How to identify the weather by looking at clouds?

The lightest and tallest clouds are called cirrus clouds. This kind of cloud is very thin, and sunlight can shine through the clouds to the ground, and the light and shadow of houses and trees are still very clear. Cirrus clouds float in strands, sometimes like a piece of white feathers, sometimes like a wisp of white silk yarn. If cirrus clouds are arranged in groups in the sky, like scaly waves caused by a breeze blowing across the water, they are cirrocumulus clouds.

Cirrus clouds and cirrocumulus clouds are both very high, where there is less moisture, and they generally do not bring rain or snow. There are also white clouds that look like cotton balls, called cumulus clouds. They are often found in the sky at about 2,000 meters, scattered one after another, reflecting the bright sunshine, and the clouds are surrounded by golden brilliance. Cumulus clouds appear in the morning, peak in the afternoon, and gradually dissipate in the evening. On clear days, we may occasionally see altocumulus clouds. Altocumulus is a group of oblate spherical clouds, arranged very evenly. The blue sky is exposed between the clouds. From a distance, they look like snow-white sheep on the grassland. Cirrus clouds, cirrocumulus clouds, cumulus clouds and altocumulus clouds, are all very beautiful.

When the continuous rain and snow were about to come, cirrus clouds were gathering, and a thin layer of clouds gradually appeared in the sky, as if covered with a white silk curtain. This type of cloud is called cirrostratus. Cirrostratus clouds are slowly advancing and the weather will turn cloudy. Then, the clouds became lower and lower, and thicker and thicker. Looking at the sun or moon through the clouds was like looking through a layer of frosted glass, hazy. At this time, the cirrostratus cloud has changed its name, and it is time to call it an altostratus cloud. Altostratus clouds appear, and it often rains or snows within a few hours. Finally, the clouds became lower and thicker, the sun and moon hid, and the sky was densely covered with dark gray clouds. This type of cloud is called nimbostratus. As soon as nimbostratus clouds form, continuous rain and snow will fall.

In summer, before thunderstorms arrive, you will first see light cumulus clouds in the sky. If Cumulus leucocumulus rapidly bulges upward, forming a tall cloud mountain with peaks reaching the zenith, it develops into Cumulus congestus.

The cumulonimbus clouds grew longer and higher, the cloud base slowly turned black, and the cloud peaks gradually became blurred. After a while, the entire cloud mountain collapsed, and dark clouds filled the sky. In an instant, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. If there is a flash, there will be heavy rain soon, and sometimes it will bring hail or tornadoes.

We can also infer the weather conditions based on the light phenomenon on the clouds. Around the sun and moon, sometimes a beautiful colorful halo appears, with the inner layer being red and the outer layer being purple. This kind of aperture is called a halo.

Solar halo and lunar halo often occur on cirrostratus clouds. The large altostratus clouds and nimbostratus clouds behind cirrostratus clouds are signs of strong winds and rain. Therefore, there is a saying that "the sun haloes and rains at midnight, and the moon haloes and winds at noon." It means that cirrostratus clouds appear and are accompanied by halo, and the weather will become bad. There is also a colored halo smaller than the halo, called "Hua". The color arrangement is ultraviolet red, which is exactly the opposite of halo. Sunflowers and moonflowers mostly occur at the edges of altocumulus clouds. Huahuan has grown from small to large, and the weather is becoming fine. Huahuan changes from large to small, and the weather may turn cloudy and rainy.

In summer, when the sky clears after the rain, a colorful arc will often hang on the cloud curtain opposite the sun. This is a rainbow. People often say: "The east rainbow booms and the west rainbow rains." This means that if the rainbow is in the east, there will be thunder without rain; if the rainbow is in the west, there will be heavy rain.

There is also a kind of cloud that often appears in the early morning or evening. When the sun shines into the sky, the clouds turn red, which is called clouds. The morning glow is in the west, indicating that rainy weather is approaching us; the sunset glow is in the east, indicating that the weather has been sunny in the past few days. Therefore, there is a proverb that "the morning glow travels thousands of miles without going out".

Cumulonimbus