To the artist I trust they may also be of some use, by calling attention to the variety and exquisite beauty of the sky. Nothing is more extraordinary in art than the general negligence of cloud-forms. Many of them are quite as worthy of careful drawing as the leaves of a tree, the flowers of a field, the ripples on a stream, or the texture of a carpet, or a marble pavement. Yet it is the common rule to find pictures, which are otherwise marvellous examples of skill and care, disfigured by impossible skies with vague, shapeless clouds, as untrue to nature as it would be possible to make them. Grace of outline, delicacy of detail and texture, richness of contrast, beauty of form and light and colour, all are present in the skies, and combine to make a whole well worthy of the best that art can give. The illustrations I offer are not selected for pictorial effect; they are chosen from a purely scientific point of view; but they are enough to indicate what could be done if the facts of nature were treated with high artistic skill.
In addition to the meteorologist and the artist, there are a much larger number who follow neither profession, but who love Nature in all her moods; and to them also I hope these pages may be of interest. Indeed, if only a few of them should be stimulated to take up a branch of nature study which has given me many an hour of quiet enjoyment, the labour of bringing these notes together will not have been in vain.
ARTHUR W. CLAYDEN.
St. John’s,
Exeter.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Introductory | [1] |
| II. | Cirrus | [21] |
| III. | Cirro-stratus and Cirro-cumulus | [45] |
| IV. | Alto Clouds | [59] |
| V. | Lower Clouds | [71] |
| VI. | Cumulus | [84] |
| VII. | Cumulo-nimbus | [105] |
| VIII. | Wave Clouds | [119] |
| IX. | Cloud Altitudes | [137] |
| X. | Cloud Nomenclature | [154] |
| XI. | Cloud Photography | [165] |
| References | [181] | |
| Index | [183] | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PLATE | PAGE | |
| A Sunset Sky | [Frontispiece] | |
| 1. | Part of a Great Halo | [22] |
| 2. | Part of a Solar Halo | [23] |
| 3. | Cirro-nebula changing to Cirro-stratus | [24] |
| 4. | Cirro-nebula changing to Cirro-cumulus | [27] |
| 5. | High Cirrus. (Cirrus Excelsus) | [31] |
| 6. | Windy Cirrus. (Cirrus Ventosus) | [32] |
| 7. | Thread Cirrus. (Cirro-filum) | [34] |
| 8. | Tailed Cirrus. (Cirrus Caudatus) | [35] |
| 9. | Hazy Cirrus. (Cirrus Nebulosus) | [36] |
| 10. | Change Cirrus. (Cirrus Inconstans) | [37] |
| 11. | Common Cirrus. (Cirrus Communis) | [40] |
| 12. | Band Cirrus. (Cirrus Vittatus) | [41] |
| 13. | Band Cirrus. (Cirrus Vittatus) | [42] |
| 14. | Hazy Cirro-stratus. (Cirro-stratus Nebulosus) | [46] |
| 15. | Cirro-stratus | [47] |
| 16. | Cirro-stratus. (Cirro-stratus Communis) | [48] |
| 17. | Flocculent Cirro-stratus. (Cirro-stratus Cumulosus) | [49] |
| 18. | Cirro-stratus and Cirro-cumulus | [50] |
| 19. | Cirro-cumulus | [50] |
| 20. | Hazy Cirro-cumulus. (Cirro-cumulus Nebulosus) | [51] |
| 21. | Hazy Cirro-cumulus. (Cirro-cumulus Nebulosus) | [51] |
| 22. | A Sunset Sky | [52] |
| 23. | Speckle Cloud (Ley). (Cirro-macula) | [53] |
| 24. | Cirrus Caudatus and Cirro-macula | [55] |
| 25. | Alto-cumulus Informis | [64] |
| 26. | Hazy Alto-cumulus. (Alto-cumulus Nebulosus) | [65] |
| 27. | Flat Alto-cumulus. (Alto-cumulus Stratiformis) | [65] |
| 28. | High Turreted Cloud. (Alto-cumulus Castellatus) | [66] |
| 29. | High Ball Cumulus. (Alto-cumulus Glomeratus) | [67] |
| 30. | Mackerel Sky. (Alto-stratus Maculosus) | [68] |
| 31. | Mackerel Sky. (Alto-stratus Maculosus) | [69] |
| 32. | Alto-strato-cumulus | [70] |
| 33. | Sunset. (Alto-cumulus Castellatus Fractus) | [70] |
| 34. | Three Layers of Stratiform Cloud after Rain | [73] |
| 35. | Rain-Cloud. (Nimbus) | [75] |
| 36. | Rain-Cloud. (Nimbus) | [75] |
| 37. | Stratus Communis | [77] |
| 38. | Strato-cumulus | [77] |
| 39. | Strato-cumulus | [78] |
| 40. | Stratus Maculosus | [78] |
| 41. | Common Stratus. (Stratus Communis) | [79] |
| 42. | Roller Cloud. (Stratus Radius) | [80] |
| 43. | Small Cumulus. (Cumulus Minor) | [94] |
| 44. | Cumulus | [95] |
| 45. | Large Cumulus. (Cumulus Major) | [96] |
| 46. | Fracto-cumulus | [97] |
| 47. | Fall Cloud. (Stratus Lenticularis) | [98] |
| 48. | Thunder-clouds forming | [109] |
| 49. | Thunder-clouds. (Cumulo-nimbus) | [110] |
| 50. | Thunder-clouds. (Cumulo-nimbus) | [111] |
| 51. | Thunder-cloud. (Cumulo-nimbus) | [111] |
| 52. | Thunder-cloud. (Cumulo-nimbus) | [111] |
| 53. | The Flank of a Great Storm | [112] |
| 54. | Crested Alto Waves. (Alto-cumulus Undatus) | [120] |
| 55. | Alto Waves. (Alto-stratus Undatus) | [121] |
| 56. | Cirro Ripples. (Cirro-cumulus Undatus) | [122] |
| 57. | Waved Cirro-stratus. (Cirro-stratus Undatus) | [136] |
| 58. | Camera for measuring Altitudes | [141] |
| 59. | Print from a Negative used for measuring Altitude | [144] |
| 60. | Pair of Prints showing the Displacement of the Cloud | [145] |
| 61. | Cloud Camera for Studies | [171] |