Rant: My uncle said to look for 'storm clouds' on a clear day and now I get why he laughed

So my Uncle Dave is a big weather nut and he told me that if you want to spot cool clouds, you should just stare up on a perfectly sunny day and look for the ones that look like they could turn into a storm. I thought he was being dramatic and ignored him for like a year. Then last Tuesday I was out in my backyard in Columbus and I saw this ONE tiny puffy cloud that had a flat bottom and a rounded top, and it was totally alone in a blue sky. I snapped a picture and looked it up later, and it was a textbook cumulus congestus, the kind that CAN grow into a thunderstorm if conditions are right. My uncle was RIGHT and I hate admitting that. Has anyone else had a relative give you cloud spotting advice that turned out to be surprisingly accurate or totally off base?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_stone335d ago

Staring at clouds is basically free meditation with a side of science.

lisa8205d ago

Isn't it funny how someone tells you something and you just write it off until you see it yourself? I actually read an article a while back about how cumulus congestus clouds are basically the teenagers of the cloud world, all puffed up with potential but not fully grown yet. @dylan_stone33, you're right about the meditation part, staring up at the sky is kind of calming once you actually pay attention. My grandpa used to say "if the clouds look like cauliflower, grab your umbrella" and I thought he was just being silly about vegetables. Turns out cauliflower shaped clouds mean unstable air, which is exactly what you saw with that flat bottom and rounded top.