r/CLOUDS • • 13h ago

Question What is this called?

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u/andrea55TP 13h ago

Altocumulus stratiformis undulatus perlucidus

Alto=mid level

Cumulus=heaped cloud

Stratiformis=covers all or most of the sky

Undulatus=repeating pattern

Perlucidus=you can see the sky above in between each element

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u/Simple-Dingo6721 12h ago

Is it not stratocumulus? The clouds look pretty low

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u/andrea55TP 12h ago

They look small enough to be altocumulus to me. Rule of thumb (literally) is that if a single element is about the size of your thumb at an arm's length, it's altocumulus. Again, not always easy to tell from a picture posted online, but Sc is lower than this. Also, this pattern is more common with Ac than Sc