10+ Types of Cloud and Their Characteristics: an Ultimate Guide

Sometimes, looking up at the sky and seeing beautiful clouds, have you ever wondered what they are made of, if they have a name (cloud type), or what gives them that shape?  Are types of clouds on Earth just simply white clouds, dark clouds, or some things like these? The answer is no. Clouds on our planet come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and heights. Check out this post to find out 10+ types of cloud and their characteristics to learn about some of the most fascinating facts about clouds, cloud types, and more.

What are the names of cloud types?

Understanding about Clouds

First off, let’s spend some minutes learning some basics about clouds, such as what they are made of and how they form.

What are clouds made of?

Clouds are mainly made of tiny water drops or ice crystals. 

Aside from the wind (speed and direction), temperature, humidity, and so on, the cloud is a critical factor that meteorologists always use to measure and forecast weather. 

Clouds are mainly made of tiny water drops or ice crystals

How clouds form

The majority of clouds form when warm air rises, going higher in the sky, and cools down. Water vapor is present in all air, but warm air can retain more water vapor than cold air. 

So, as warm air cools down, water vapor then condenses into tiny water droplets or ice crystals. The cooler air also causes the droplets of water to begin to stick to things such as little bits of dust, ice, or sea salt. 

More droplets form as the air cools, eventually forming a cloud. 

The formation of clouds

10+ Different Types of Cloud and Their Characteristics

Clouds come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, each with its own set of characteristics. They are categorized based on how high they are above the surface and how they seem (texture) from the ground.

Based on the base of the cloud above the Earth’s ground, most clouds are grouped as high, middle, or low-level clouds, which are then subdivided into more types. 

There are many cloud types

Different forms of clouds also suggest various weather conditions. That means it’s totally possible to predict weather with clouds!

Now, let’s find out the details of each type!

High clouds

High-level clouds form only at elevations of more than 20,000 feet. It's no surprise that these clouds are mostly made of ice crystals, given their height. The prefix "cirrus" or "cirro" is usually found in the names of high-level clouds. 

3 types of high clouds

High clouds include 3 main types: cirrus, cirrostratus, and cirrocumulus. 

Types of high clouds	Characteristics of the clouds
Cirrus	Always made of ice crystals. Appear in the sky as thin, long, wispy white streamers.  Commonly referred to as "mare's tails" since they resemble the tail of a horse.  This type of cloud is common during good weather.
Cirrocumulus	Small and rounded puffs forming long rows in the sky.  Usually white, but can also be gray.  Popular in winter, indicating fair yet cold weather.
Cirrostratus	Have a sheet-like shape (as if a curly blanket covering the high sky). Quite translucent. The sun or moon can shine easily through this type of cloud. Cirrostratus’ color ranges from light gray to white.

Middle clouds

Middle-level clouds occur at elevations between 6,500 and up to 20,000 feet.

Depending on various factors like the altitude, the troposphere’s vertical temperature structure, and the time of the year, middle clouds may be made up of liquid water droplets, ice crystals, or a mixture of the two. 

Altostratus and altocumulus cloud

The prefix "alto" is usually found in the names of this group of clouds. Altostratus and altocumulus are the two main types of middle clouds. 

Types of middle clouds	Characteristics of the clouds
Altostratus	Uniformly gray or blue-gray, smooth, and mostly featureless.  Usually covering thousands of square miles when it occurs.  Closely associated with light rain or snow (altostratus clouds themselves are not able to produce much precipitation).
Altocumulus	Mostly made of water droplets, but when forming higher up, altocumulus clouds can also retain ice crystals. Usually formed in groups. Grayish-white in color, with one part being darker than the other. Quite common in most parts of Earth.
Nimbostratus	Appear as a dense, gray blanket across the sky. Often produce steady rain or snow, lasting for long periods. Completely block out sunlight, giving the sky a dull, overcast appearance. Have a formless, flat look without any sharp outlines.

Low clouds

Low clouds or low-level clouds appear at elevations below 6,500 feet. 

They are typically made up of droplets of liquid water or even supercooled droplets, with the exception of cold winter storms, where ice crystals (and snow) make up the majority of the clouds. 

Types of low-level clouds

Low-level clouds don't have a prefix, but their names are derived from the words “cumulo” or "strato," depending on their characteristics. 

Low clouds primarily come in two varieties: stratus, which forms horizontally, and cumulus, which forms vertically. 

Types of low clouds	Characteristics of the clouds
Stratus	Develop horizontally. Flat and have a uniform gray. Made up of thin cloud layers that cover a large area of the sky. Sometimes, light mist or drizzle may fall when stratus clouds are present in the sky.
Cumulus	Develop vertically. Puffy, white, or light gray clouds. Look like cotton balls floating in the sky. Indicate fair weather (though cumulus clouds may occasionally produce rain in the form of a light shower.)
Stratocumulus	Puffy and gray clouds. May line up in rows or spread out. Light rain (usually drizzle) falls from this type of cloud.  Can turn into nimbostratus clouds.
Cumulonimbus	Have vertical growth. Commonly named “a towering cloud” since the base of this cloud type can grow from 1 to 8 km.  Mostly made of water droplets at low altitudes, but ice crystals are what this type of cloud contains at high altitudes. The only cloud type capable of producing thunder, lightning, and hail.

Other types of clouds

In addition to the 10 clouds mentioned earlier, there are many more that you may see but don’t know their name.

• Mammatus clouds: According to MetOffice, they are among the most distinctive and unusual cloud formations, featuring a series of pouches emerging from the base of a cloud. Mammatus clouds are most frequently associated with cumulonimbus clouds, which are known for producing powerful storms.

Mammatus clouds

• Contrails: A contrail is a narrow but elongated cloud formed when jet engine exhaust gasses condense in cold air at high altitudes. When the surrounding air's relative humidity is low, a contrail evaporates quickly. A contrail may be also visible as cirrus-like clouds for several hours if the humidity is high.

Contrails

• Fog: Fog is also a type of cloud. Specifically, it’s a cloud of tiny droplets of water that are suspended in the atmosphere near or at the surface of Earth. There are two types of fog: Radiation fog and advection fog.

Fog

You may also like:

• Types of winds on Earth

• Different types of precipitation and how they form

Interesting Facts about Clouds

The variety of types of cloud and their characteristics is just one of many interesting facts about the cloud. 

Right below here are other mind-blowing cloud facts that you might have never heard about: 

• Hovering at around 200,000 feet (60,000 meters), noctilucent clouds, not any type listed above, are the highest clouds in the sky. They are rare and beautiful clouds.

• Even though floating so gently in the sky, clouds are not weightless. According to MetOffice, a typical cumulonimbus would weigh, well, around 400,000 kilograms.

• Clouds can be found on other planets with atmospheres, such as Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. While Venus has dense clouds of sulfur dioxide, Saturn and Jupiter have clouds of ammonia.

• Cirrus clouds at high altitudes can travel at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour...

Wrapping up

That’s everything we want to share with you via this post regarding types of cloud and their characteristics. Generally, the clouds on Earth come in all sizes, shapes, types, and characteristics. Next time looking at the sky and see clouds floating, we hope you know what type it is with ease.