by Gerald Davis

Created on: February 24, 2009

Clouds. We see them most every day. They decorate our skies with beauty, and they can also forewarn us of impending weather. We gaze at them. We imagine them as looking like animals and things. They can light up our mornings and evenings with brilliant color. They can blot out the sun turning day into night. They drop precipitation on us. Clouds are a part of our daily lives.

How can we tell by the clouds that bad weather is coming or is imminent? In the old days, farmers and Indians could read the clouds and tell what the weather might do later in the day or sometimes even a day or two down the road. In this day and age of the computerized forecast told to us by a weather person has replaced the age old art of cloud reading to know if bad weather is coming.

There is an old saying, red in the morning, sailors warning. This is based on fact. Our weather in the northern hemisphere moves from west to east. Before a system arrives, high thin clouds will often move in in advance of the storm system. These high thin clouds would be lit up by the rising sun in the morning and thus warn sailors that a system was approaching. Same thing goes for land too. Bad weather usually arrives within 48 hours of the time that these high clouds begin to filter across the sky.

When the weather arrives, the clouds can tell us how bad the weather is going to be. We all know that usually the darker the clouds, the worse the weather. The clouds are dark because they shoot up into the atmosphere blocking the sunlight. The darker the cloud, the higher into the sky the cloud goes, thus, the worse the weather will be.

Another way to tell how bad the weather is going to be is by the definition of the clouds. Just your average everyday storm will often have very poorly defined edges. Where the storm starts may be a bit muddled as there is just a gradual shading into the storm. The more severe the storm, the more defined the edges. The worst storms will have a hard defined edge between the clouds and sky. You may see a cloud rising that looks like cauliflower with sharp defined edge between the clouds and the blue.

Bad storms also have other types of clouds that will help to show the severity. Shelf clouds, a low hanging cloud at the front of the storm, may cut across the horizon at the front edge of the storm. Seeing these will often mean strong winds will occur just as the shelf cloud passes. Low hanging clouds on the back edge of the storm may be visible. These are called wall clouds and are the are where the storm is drawing in rising air. Often these clouds can begin to rotate, which is a warning that a tornado may occur at any time.

The clouds tell us a lot about our weather. It is always a good idea to learn what these clouds mean so that when we see the signs of bad weather approaching, we can take appropriate measures to keep ourselves safe from harm. Keep those eyes to the skies and stay safe.

Learn more about this author, Gerald Davis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.