Cloud classification by height
Topic: Water in the Atmosphere: Humidity, Condensation, Clouds and Precipitation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 10 "Water in the Atmosphere"
Meaning
NCERT groups combined cloud types by the height at which they form:
- High clouds: cirrus, cirrostratus, cirrocumulus.
- Middle clouds: altostratus, altocumulus.
- Low clouds: stratocumulus, nimbostratus.
- Clouds with extensive vertical development: cumulus, cumulonimbus.
The name prefixes help: cirro- means high, alto- means middle, strato- means layered, cumulo- means heaped and nimbo- means rain. In the tropics, high clouds are above about 6 km, middle clouds about 2–8 km and low clouds below about 2 km. This grouping helps forecasters read the weather from the sky.
Example
A pre-monsoon storm cloud over Kolkata has its dark base low in the sky but its top towers to high levels. It does not fit any one height group. That is why cumulonimbus is placed in the separate "vertical development" group.