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What weather is associated with stratus clouds? Stratus is usually accompanied by little to no rainfall but if it is thick enough, it can produce light drizzle. This drizzle can also fall in the form of light snow if cold enough.

Stratus clouds are a type of low-level cloud, occurring below 6,000 feet. They are characterized by uniform layers of grayish clouds. Stratus cloud layers are generally thin but cover the entire sky, known as overcast.

Stratus Cloud Varieties Stratus clouds have three associated cloud varieties: opacus, translucidus, and undulatus.

Cirrus clouds

The different types of clouds are cumulus, cirrus, stratus and nimbus.

Stratus clouds are uniform and flat, producing a gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle.

Stratus cloud often look like thin, white sheets covering the whole sky. Since they are so thin, they seldom produce much rain or snow. Sometimes, in the mountains or hills, these clouds appear to be fog. Cumulonimbus clouds grow on hot days when warm, wet air rises very high into the sky.

Two main classifications of clouds are cumulus and stratus. Cumulus clouds result from air rising due to positive buoyancy (i.e. metaphor: bubbles rising in a pot of water). Stratus clouds results from a forced lifting of air (low level convergence, upper level divergence).

If you see a cirrocumulus cloud, the chances are good that there are cirrus and/or cirrostratus clouds nearby or even adjacent. Similar to altocumulus clouds, cirrocumulus can also take on a mackerel sky effect, resembling fish scales. If you’re lucky enough to see a mackerel sky at sunset, you’re in for a treat.

The rain cloud appears black or gray. Clouds form when air becomes saturated, or filled, with water vapor. Warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air, so lowering the temperature of an air mass is like squeezing a sponge.

They form when turbulent vertical currents meet a cirrus layer, creating the puffy cumulus shape. Cirrocumulus clouds can also form through contrails, the vapour trails left by planes as they fly through a dry upper troposphere. These streaks can spread out and become cirrus, cirrostratus and cirrocumulus.

The lighter warm air is forced to rise over the cold air mass, leading to cloud formation. The lowering clouds indicate that the front is drawing near, giving a period of rain in the next 12 hours.

Stratus clouds

A wall cloud is a cloud that is lowered from a thunderstorm, forming when rapidly rising air causes lower pressure below the storm’s main updraft. Wall clouds that rotate are a warning sign of very violent thunderstorms. They can be an indication that a tornado will touch down within minutes or even within an hour.