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Cirrus (cloud classification symbol: Ci) is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition onto rocky or metallic dust particles at high altitudes.
Sep 14, 2023 · Typically found at heights greater than 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals that originate from the freezing of supercooled water droplets. They generally occur in fair weather and point in the direction of air movement at their elevation.
From his Essay of the Modifications of Clouds (1803), Luke Howard divided clouds into three categories: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus, plus a fourth special type, nimbus. While clouds appear in infinite shapes and sizes, they fall into some basic forms.
Jul 25, 2023 · Cirrus clouds are thin, delicate types of clouds found at high altitudes, typically above 20,000 feet (6,000 meters). They are composed of tiny ice crystals and form in the upper...
Learn all about cirrus clouds, including cirrus cloud description and facts, images, how to best identify them, and their species, varieties, and features.
Apr 27, 2022 · The 4 main types of clouds are cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and nimbus, but they combine to make 10 types of clouds. Other kinds of clouds exist, too. The World Meteorological Organization lists over 100 different types of clouds in its International Cloud Atlas.
Cirrus clouds are short, detached, hair-like clouds found at high altitudes. These delicate clouds are wispy, with a silky sheen, or look like tufts of hair. In the daytime, they...
Sep 11, 2024 · Cirrus clouds are delicate, feathery clouds that are made mostly of ice crystals. Their wispy shape comes from wind currents which twist and spread the ice crystals into strands. Weather prediction: A change is on its way!
This photo shows transparent to translucent cirrus streaks, and illustrates why cirrus clouds are often described as mare's tails. The streaks come from falling ice particles that make up the clouds. Photo by Lin Chambers, August, 2002.
Cirrus clouds are composed almost exclusively of ice crystals. These crystals are generally very small, which, together with their sparseness, accounts for the transparency of most Cirrus clouds.