Cloud Spotting

Cloud spotting is a great way to amuse kids on car rides, walks, or even when they are stuck at home bored. Of course cloud spotting is fun for adults too, I take a look out of my window everyday to see what the clouds are doing, and subsequently have began to learn more in-depth about the weather in general and of course the different types of clouds.

Kids are always curious to know what's what in the world, and learning the clouds is a great way to get them interested in natural sciences, photography, weather, etc.

Cloud spotting can be tricky occasionally, clouds and formations can sometimes be hard to identify, and not everyone has the answers their kids are looking for when identifying clouds. A good way to cloud spot would be to take pictures of any interesting looking cloud formations while out and about, then once home download the pictures and try to identify the clouds using the internet. The more clouds you compare and see, the more you will begin to be able to identify the clouds by yourself and so will the kids.

Types of Clouds - Low Level Cloud Types

I am attempting to take photographs of all the different types of clouds for my blog, while doing this I'll be learning about the cloud formations myself, and what kind of weather they bring.

 I am hoping to get a shot of all of the basic cloud types this year, and will be adding to this series as I take more pictures.

This post focuses on low level clouds, the five cloud types that are shown in my 'low level cloud type' infographic to the right.

Cumulonimbus Clouds

These clouds often mean a storm or bad weather is approaching, thunder, lightning, heavy rain, or hail. If a cumulonimbus cloud has developed a towering anvil shape this is called a cumulonimbus inca, or supercell. It's from these beasts that tornado's are formed.

The photos show some cumulonimbus clouds that I've snapped. Both of these were taken just before a huge storm.

Is A Storm Coming?

The best way to find out the answer to the question "Is there a storm coming?" is to look at some weather data charts. These are really simple to understand once you know how, and the best way to predict a storm.

In this article I will be looking at some weather charts, and explaining how to read them. This is a very basic introduction to weather charts and in no time you will be able to answer the fateful question "Is there a storm coming?"

The pic shows an incoming storm that I snapped whilst on a walk. Find more of my storm pictures here.

Using Pressure Charts to Predict a Storm

Possible storms can be predicted fairly early on about a week to nine days before the event, using a pressure chart. You can track the areas of low pressure across the charts, which update every four hours. You can also track the predicted area of low pressure for as long as the chart will allow.

Of course over a week or nine days a storm can fizzle out, change it's track, or intensify. You will not get a complete picture of the storm until at least 24 hours before the event, or later. At this point the different model weather charts start to line up with each other, and become pretty accurate.

Storm Pictures

 I took these storm pictures whilst out on a walk with my dog, (luckily she has no problem with storms). There seemed to be two storms, one from the right which we could see in front of us, and one to the left, which we didn't see until we turned a corner and came out of a small piece of woodland.

It was a pretty strange sight, with some awesome cloud formations. There was lightning from the left and right, and in the middle the sky was blue and calm.

The two storms seemed to move across the sky and join each other to make 1 big storm. We left when the two storms joined and it began to thunder and lightning quite badly. Of course we lost the dog lead in our panic, and had to re-trace our steps in the pounding rain, until we found it!

Clouds That Look Like Tornadoes But Aren't!

I love taking photos of the weather and of course am always on the look out for tornadoes, I have never captured an actual tornado on film, but sometimes see clouds that really look like them, and snap these out of interest. This was not a tornado, it was a cloud under a larger cloud, but appeared in the middle of an almighty storm.