Sadly the website is offline, but if you like a hard copy cloud book I can heartily recommend the following. During my spell in Antarctica, I had to act as a meteorological observer (clouds are still manually encoded into METOBS that are entered in by WMO stations). This required learning the 10 types and being able to characterise the full picture of the sky.
It made me a total cloud addict, and spurred a far deeper interest in the role of the atmosphere in environmental science which has persisted ever since.
I heartily recommend looking up at the sky, dividing into oktas (eighths) and trying to classify how much of the low, medium and high clouds there are. If you do it regularly enough, the changes begin to astound. Getting your kids to do it too is also wonderful, because it's always there as an activity... :)
It is amazing how much of 'it' is going on in the skies once you start noticing.
There was a thread this winter on solstices, with commenters expressing wonder at how could humans figure those out. If you notice sunrises/sunsets day after day over the years, it is inescapable. It's sad that we the modern humans spend so much time hunkered below opaque ceilings.
But I will say this, having interest in cloud-spotting and amateur astronomy is very very rewarding. Clouds stop being an impediment to you and grow into a phenomena worth appreciating on their own terms.
srean 8 hours ago [-]
What I find fascinating objects of beauty are the ways different clouds modify light or are illuminated by different kinds of light, from the belt of Venus to different kinds of halos to crepuscular and anti solar rays.
I remember that one time where anti-solar rays painted pole to pole "longitudes" on the hemispherical dome of the sky. It's too bad we don't have photographic memory, or at least I don't.
It is such a wonderful world if one has the luxury of time and space and the foresight to remove oneself from the cover of a ceiling once in a while.
I'm having trouble understanding the Belt of Venus one. Isn't purple expected to be there per ROYGBIV? Also the second image looks orange to me, not purple.
> It is a pinkish glow that surrounds the observer
This also makes no sense to me, or else maybe observer is jargon? But there's no hyperlink... The photographer certainly doesn't seem to be surrounded by a pinkish glow.
Is it just a name for the purple part of the spectrum?
srean 3 hours ago [-]
> Isn't purple expected to be there per ROYGBIV
I do not understand the Physics of the phenomenon very well, but I would expect the high frequency wavelengths (for example, purple) to be scattered away.
"Surround" does not describe the phenomenon of Belt of Venus adequately. Think of it like a horizontal band wrapped around the dome of the sky, slightly above the horizon, and prominent towards the West, fading towards the East.
falloon 10 hours ago [-]
I'm something of a cloud-enjoyer. If you're interested in learning more about clouds I'd recommend the international cloud atlas website.
https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/home.html
They have forums where people post neat cloud photos and if you sign up for membership they will send you an identification chart plus a journal for keeping track of the types you have seen.
Makes for a nice gift for that person you know who always goes "oh look at that cloud!" :)
calmbonsai 6 hours ago [-]
Heh, based on the title, I thought this would be "10 Basic Clouds" for AWS, Azure, GCP, etc. in some sort of GoF "Design Patterns" lexicon.
progbits 2 hours ago [-]
Thought so too and I think it's a sign I need a break.
gobdovan 2 hours ago [-]
'Look at that cloud, dad! It's a bean with legs!'
'No son, that's a Cumulus cloud. Detached, dense, with sharp outlines.'
jmtame 9 hours ago [-]
When I moved from the Bay Area to Austin, the first thing I realized: I missed seeing Cumulus clouds, which I saw a lot growing up in the midwest. Bay Area either has blue skies or Cirrus clouds, but never did see Cumulus clouds there.
Sorry but I can't make sense of this comment. If we assume "Bay Area either has blue skies or Cirrus clouds, but never did see Cumulus clouds there" is true, then the first sentence would make more sense if you had moved from Austin (which presumably has cumulus clouds) to the Bay Area (which doesn't, per your final sentence).
I also wasn't sure what to make of "in the midwest". Not being from the US, I thought that that would be referring to Austin -- but when I asked Gemini, it confidently told me that Austin is not in the Midwest. I know the Bay Area is not in the Midwest, so... Are you referring to a third place here?
TheColorYellow 8 hours ago [-]
Not OP, but: Moving back to Austin, the overwhelming number of cumulus clouds in the sky reminded him how much he enjoyed their marshmallowy appearance. They don't exist in the Bay, hence his first sentence being true.
Presumably he spent his youth in the Midwest. Austin is a pretty transient city so OP likely moved there.
Funny enough I have felt similar to OP about Texas skies compared to the East Coast. The plains landscape and the heat (common to the Midwest) seems to create a cloud overlay so very different from what you find on the coasts. Me, I'll keep my stratocumulus and cirrocumulus beautiful sunsets of the South Eastern United States anyday!
jmtame 7 hours ago [-]
Yep that’s right. First sentence was poorly worded, but I was trying to figure out why moving to Austin made me feel nostalgia, turns out it was the Cumulus clouds. Both Austin and Illinois have them, but the Bay does not.
sometimelurker 10 hours ago [-]
finally something relaxing. nothing about AI or a reminder for myself to start another project with some new fancy method, no politics.
Thank you
_carbyau_ 9 hours ago [-]
And you can look outside to see your local version of it.
And, it updates frequently!
furyofantares 9 hours ago [-]
Ironic!
mikestorrent 10 hours ago [-]
And don't worry, each type of cloud is already owned and trademarked years ago, you're not missing out on altocumulus.co.uk or whatever
kalev 7 hours ago [-]
Lol, i expected a comparison between the major cloud providers but had a hard time believing there would be ten of them.. Anyway, I should take a day of to look at some real clouds.
unethical_ban 5 hours ago [-]
Do kids still get taught this in school? I got taught a few in the day. Cirrus, Cumulus, Stratus, Cumulonimbus. Wispy, cottonball, blanket, storm.
NooneAtAll3 6 hours ago [-]
noaa got hug of death?
ashm1104 5 hours ago [-]
Damn my IT brain thought of AWS , Azure and what not , I should go touch grass
_blk 2 hours ago [-]
yup. even sonnet 4.6 on low got it right
esafak 10 hours ago [-]
Can these clouds be predicted from physics?
roelmore 10 hours ago [-]
In opus 4.8 they can
_blk 2 hours ago [-]
genuinely funny - thanks
mikestorrent 10 hours ago [-]
They can be predicted from a small device you can buy at a smoke shop
pslab 9 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
Rendered at 10:29:05 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
It made me a total cloud addict, and spurred a far deeper interest in the role of the atmosphere in environmental science which has persisted ever since.
I heartily recommend looking up at the sky, dividing into oktas (eighths) and trying to classify how much of the low, medium and high clouds there are. If you do it regularly enough, the changes begin to astound. Getting your kids to do it too is also wonderful, because it's always there as an activity... :)
Really hoping this site comes online again soon!
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/met-office-cloud...
There was a thread this winter on solstices, with commenters expressing wonder at how could humans figure those out. If you notice sunrises/sunsets day after day over the years, it is inescapable. It's sad that we the modern humans spend so much time hunkered below opaque ceilings.
But I will say this, having interest in cloud-spotting and amateur astronomy is very very rewarding. Clouds stop being an impediment to you and grow into a phenomena worth appreciating on their own terms.
I remember that one time where anti-solar rays painted pole to pole "longitudes" on the hemispherical dome of the sky. It's too bad we don't have photographic memory, or at least I don't.
It is such a wonderful world if one has the luxury of time and space and the foresight to remove oneself from the cover of a ceiling once in a while.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays#Gallery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticrepuscular_rays#/media/Fi...
> It is a pinkish glow that surrounds the observer
This also makes no sense to me, or else maybe observer is jargon? But there's no hyperlink... The photographer certainly doesn't seem to be surrounded by a pinkish glow.
Is it just a name for the purple part of the spectrum?
I do not understand the Physics of the phenomenon very well, but I would expect the high frequency wavelengths (for example, purple) to be scattered away.
"Surround" does not describe the phenomenon of Belt of Venus adequately. Think of it like a horizontal band wrapped around the dome of the sky, slightly above the horizon, and prominent towards the West, fading towards the East.
Personal top three clouds:
- Nacreous clouds
- Altocumulus lenticularis
- Cirrus homogenitus (what a name)
https://www.cloudman.com
https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/fog-bow.html
They have forums where people post neat cloud photos and if you sign up for membership they will send you an identification chart plus a journal for keeping track of the types you have seen.
Makes for a nice gift for that person you know who always goes "oh look at that cloud!" :)
'No son, that's a Cumulus cloud. Detached, dense, with sharp outlines.'
I also wasn't sure what to make of "in the midwest". Not being from the US, I thought that that would be referring to Austin -- but when I asked Gemini, it confidently told me that Austin is not in the Midwest. I know the Bay Area is not in the Midwest, so... Are you referring to a third place here?
Presumably he spent his youth in the Midwest. Austin is a pretty transient city so OP likely moved there.
Funny enough I have felt similar to OP about Texas skies compared to the East Coast. The plains landscape and the heat (common to the Midwest) seems to create a cloud overlay so very different from what you find on the coasts. Me, I'll keep my stratocumulus and cirrocumulus beautiful sunsets of the South Eastern United States anyday!
Thank you