Science / Weather / Stratus: One of the three basic cloud forms (the others are cirrus and cumulus. It is also one of the two low cloud types. It is a sheetlike cloud that does not exhibit individual elements, and is, perhaps, the most common of all low clouds. Thick and gray, it is seen in low, uniform layers and rarely extends higher than 5,000 feet above the earth's surface. A veil of stratus may give the sky a hazy appearance. Fog may form from a stratus cloud that touches the ground. Although it can produce drizzle or snow, it rarely produces heavy precipitation. Clouds producing heavy precipitation may exist above a layer of stratus.
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Science / Weather / Stratus Fractus: Stratus clouds that appear in irregular fragments, as if they had been shred or torn. Also appears in cumulus clouds (called cumulus fractus), but not in cirrus clouds. MORE
Science / Weather / Nimbostratus: This cloud exhibits a combination of rain or snow, and sometimes the base of the cloud cannot be seen because of the heaviness of precipitation. They are generally associated with fall and winter cond MORE
Science / Weather / Cirrostratus: A cirriform cloud that develops from cirrus spreading out into a thin layer, creating a flat sheetlike appearance. It can give the sky a slightly milky or veiled look. When viewed from the surface of MORE