{"id":376,"date":"2023-05-19T21:41:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T09:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/?page_id=376"},"modified":"2023-05-19T21:50:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T09:50:36","slug":"clouds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/?page_id=376","title":{"rendered":"Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Clouds are made up of millions of tiny water droplets. Clouds are made when quite warm, moist air rises into the sky where it cools down and condenses. Clouds can form in a few minutes or over a number of hours. There are many different types of cloud and looking at them can help you to predict the weather.<\/p>

The amount of cloud in the sky is measured in eighths (or oktas by meteorologists). Simple observation can be made such as<\/p>

Clear<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 no cloud cover
Partly cloudy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 less than half cloud cover
Mainly cloudy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 more than half cloud cover but with some breaks in the cloud
Overcast<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 complete cloud cover<\/p>

Cloud can be measured through a number of observations. Consider whether the cloud is:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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HIGH<\/th>(5,500-14,000 meters) Includes: Cirrus, cirrocumulus, and cirrostratus<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
MEDIUM<\/td>(2,000-7,000 meters) Includes: Altocumulus, altostratus, and nimbostratus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LOW<\/td>(below 2,000 meters) Includes: Stratocumulus, Stratus, Cumulus, and Cumulonimbus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Altitude<\/th>Name<\/th>Colour<\/th>Description<\/th>Weather<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
HIGH<\/td>Cirrostratus<\/td>White
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\nWhitish<\/td>		Thin silky and feathery
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\nFat, smooth transparent sheet<\/td>		Fair
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\nWorsening<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MEDIUM<\/td>Altocumulus
\n
\n
\nAltostratus
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\nNimbostratus<\/td>		White\/grey
\n
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\nGreyish
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\nDark grey<\/td>		Layers and waves often separated by blue sky
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\nThin sheets\/layers
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\nThick sheets<\/td>		Fair
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\nRain on way
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\nContinuous rain\/snow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LOW<\/td>Stratocumulus
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\nStratus
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\nCumulus
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\nCumulonimbus<\/td>		Grey\/white
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\nGrey
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\nGrey\/white
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\nGrey\/white<\/td>		Layers in rounded rolls. No breaks.
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\nThin sheet blanketing sky
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\nPuffy clouds
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\nVery tall puffy clouds<\/td>		Dry\/dull
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\nDrizzle
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\nGood
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\nStorms. Heavy rain\/hail\/snow<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clouds are made up of millions of tiny water droplets. Clouds are made when quite warm, moist air rises into the sky where it cools down...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-376","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityweather.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}