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Almost every day clouds are seen in the sky in different shapes and sizes. Clouds are unique features of weather and there are many different types.

Clouds can be classified by height. There are low, middle and high clouds. Low clouds span up to 6,000 feet in altitude. Middle or mid-level clouds usually are around 10,000 feet in altitude and are associated with the ‘alto-’ prefix. High clouds are often 20,000 feet or higher and have a ‘cirro-’ prefix.

Low Clouds:

Stratus Clouds: Usually seen as an almost uniform layer of gray clouds blanketing the sky. Often light precipitation such as mist or drizzle are associated with these clouds. These types of clouds usually cause a dreary, damp day.
Cumulus Clouds: These clouds are the white, puffy cotton-candy clouds in the sky. These clouds form due to convection and daytime heating. Usually, these clouds are harmless, fair weather clouds that do not precipitate and just provide some shade. Next time take notice if you see more of these clouds during the afternoon, the warmest part of the day.
Stratocumulus: Throwing together a mix of stratus and cumulus clouds, you get stratocumulus clouds. The clouds are usually patchy and somewhat puffy in nature like cumulus clouds but are a bit darker and expand across more areas of the sky, just like stratus clouds. Almost all sunlight can be blocked from the ground when these clouds cover the sun.

Mid-Level Clouds:

Nimbostratus: The prefix ‘nimbo-’ means precipitating, so it makes sense that nimbostratus clouds are associated with falling rain or snow. The sun is not visible through this thick layer of clouds.
Altostratus: Similar to stratus clouds at lower levels, these clouds are usually seen as a gray layer in the sky. However, since these clouds are a bit higher up in the mid-level, the sun may be roughly visible.
Altocumulus: These cumulus clouds are grouped closer together than regular cumulus clouds. They resemble a white or grey patch in the sky and can cover the sun occasionally.

High Clouds:

Cirrus: Cirrus clouds are thin, wispy and look distant in the sky. When covering the sun, sunlight reaching the surface is barely dimmed. These clouds are made of tiny ice crystals, since the air is freezing cold that high in the atmosphere. Ice crystals help scatter light and around sunrise or sunset, these clouds can turn a yellow or orange color, making for a beautiful sight!
Cirrocumulus: Very high cumulus clouds that look like white dots close together high in the sky. These clouds can show a wispiness shape like cirrus clouds, but usually are more speckled with dots of bright white.
Cirrostratus: Since it is a stratus cloud, even high in the sky it resembles an almost uniform layer. The layer looks smooth, milky, and wispy. Even though the layer of cirrostratus clouds can expand over much of the sky, sunlight still is rarely blocked from reaching the ground. Cirrostratus clouds can produce a halo-like symbol around the sun.

Other Clouds:

Cumulonimbus: While these clouds are formally defined as low clouds, they are unique, often spanning the levels of low, middle and high clouds. These clouds are classified by their towering vertical structure and can often reach the top of the troposphere, or the layer of the atmosphere where all the weather occurs. This can be as high as 30,000 feet! They look like cumulus clouds; except they grow very large and can be very dark. During the spring and summer, these clouds are often seen as an afternoon thunderstorm develops. Sometimes, these clouds can form severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, lightning, hail and even tornadoes.

These are 10 basic types of clouds, but they all can be seen often. Next time you go out cloud-sighting, use this as a guide to see what type of cloud is floating around in the sky!

Sources: National Weather Service, Penn State University

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Low, Medium, High Brings Different Cloud Types