The first day of spring in 2023 was on Monday, March 20th. Today the sky began to look like spring. Clouds in the Upper Midwest winter season sky are often low and gray. But warmer seasons bring clouds with more vertical development, punctuated by areas of blue sky. The clouds today included stratocumulus, cumulus, and altocumulus. The commonality is the cloud type - cumulus, a cloud with vertical development. Cumulus and stratocumulus are low level clouds with vertical development. Altocumulus are ‘high cumulus’, clouds with vertical development. They are found in the middle layer of the troposphere below the high layer where cirrus clouds reside. Today’s sky is bringing clouds of a new season - spring of 2023.

Altocumulus Photo copyright 2023 by Craig Johnson

The day ended with broken high clouds in the southern sky with a patch of altostratus and altocumulus across the top.

Weather Briefing, L.C.

Weather Briefing, L.C.

WxBlog

Weather Briefing, L.C.

The Weather Blog

Clouds of the Day - March 22, 2023

Weather Briefing, L.C.