Cloud Scientist

The atlas explains everything you see in the sky. It has information on almost every weather phenomenon, like rain, snow, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even rainbows.

It includes pictures showing cloud types and features. There are more than 100 classifications in the atlas because clouds come in many shapes, arrangements, and textures.

Even though you may not see them, the air is filled with water molecules, called water vapor. Water vapor is a gas. As water vapor cools, it changes from gas to liquid or ice and clumps together as clouds. The water droplets are so small and light, they can still float high in the sky.

By studying different types of clouds on a given day, we can predict the weather. For example, cumulonimbus clouds are powerful, towering thunderstorm clouds. From a distance, these can be beautiful. But beware, they often mean dangerous lightning, hail, or even tornadoes.

Pilots and sailors, who need to keep a close eye on the weather, rely on the atlas. It’s also helpful to hikers—you don’t want to be caught on a mountain when there’s lightning nearby!

We added a cloud called volutus. It’s looks like a tube. People have long known it existed—now it has a name.

A feature called asperitas was also added. It means “roughness” in Latin. People around the world were seeing clouds that looked like rough ocean waves in the sky. Now we have a name that describes how these clouds look.

We’ve also given names to clouds that come from human activity. An example are clouds formed by airplanes, commonly called contrails. These clouds are now named homogenitus.