How it works
This cloud types quiz draws the ten basic clouds where they float: three high, three in the middle, three low, and one tower that climbs through all three bands.
Read the full guide
Read the name in two parts
Cirro, Latin for a curl of hair, marks the high clouds, and alto the middle ones. Strato is Latin for layer and nimbus for rain; cumulus clouds are detached, fluffy mounds. So altostratus is a middle layer, cirrocumulus a high patch of tiny mounds, and nimbostratus a layer that rains.
Cloud labeling worksheet
Print the chart blank for a cloud labeling worksheet, or use it as a label the clouds worksheet with the names listed beside it. The print with names is the answer key.
- Two look-alikes: a cirrostratus veil makes a halo round the sun, and an altostratus sheet only shows it dimly, as through ground glass.
Questions and answers
What are the 10 types of clouds?
Cirrus, cirrocumulus and cirrostratus are high clouds. Altocumulus, altostratus and nimbostratus are middle clouds. Cumulus, stratocumulus, stratus and cumulonimbus are low clouds. These ten come from the World Meteorological Organization’s International Cloud Atlas.
Which clouds bring rain?
Nimbostratus, a dark gray layer with rain or snow falling from it, and cumulonimbus, the thunderstorm cloud. Stratus may bring drizzle.
Why is altocumulus a middle cloud if alto means high?
Alto is Latin for high, but NOAA explains that it marks these clouds as the higher relatives of the low clouds stratus and cumulus. They still sit in the middle band.
Is cumulonimbus a low cloud?
By its base, yes: NOAA lists it with the low clouds. But its strong updraft carries the top well into the high band, where it flattens into an anvil.