New Cloud Type Recognized - First Time Since 1951!

An asperitas cloud formation over Statesboro, Georgia (USA)
Photo by Sarah K. Davis, posted on 3/31/2015
This photo shows an example of: Altocumulus, asperitas
Photo was featured as the Cloud Appreciation Society's “Cloud of the Month” for July 2015

As a blog claiming to be "in the clouds," it's hard to believe I've never posted on the subject of cloud classification or, more to the point, on the imminent formal recognition of a new variety of cloud. To cloud geeks everywhere this is serious and exciting business. Especially so this summer, as a few weeks ago the World Meteorological Organization* accepted a new type of cloud into the fold. Named "asperitas," after the Latin for ‘roughness,' it's the first new cloud type recognized since 1951! According to the Cloud Appreciation Society (of which, yes, I am a proud member), this new cloud was identified thanks to photographs sent in by their members – like this one by Sarah K. Davis, taken over Statesboro, in Georgia. (Brief aside here - for whatever reason, "cloudspotting," not even really a thing in the U.S., tends to be hugely popular in other countries, so I always find it encouraging when people in the U.S. show more than a passing interest.)

The journey towards recognition of asperitas began back in 2006, when the Cloud Appreciation Society started receiving some photographs of a strange cloud over Iowa. With rough, turbulent and contorted waves, these formations didn’t seem to fit within the existing cloud classifications. As the Society wrote in their recent newsletter,

We weren’t sure what to call these clouds when we added them up on our photo gallery. There is already a term for wavy clouds, they’re called undulatus, but these turbulent waves seemed different from the usual undulatus. And those 2006 examples weren’t the only ones. We soon noticed other examples. These same dramatic wave clouds were being sent in from other parts of the world. Each time, we thought there’s another of those weird, nameless clouds.

By 2008, the Cloud Appreciation Society decided to give this cloud a name, which was subsequently tweaked by the WMO to conform with their Latin naming system. And no, Harry Potter fans, "Voldemort" was never considered during the naming process, no matter how much the new cloud looks like something he would conjure.

A cloud type is only official when it appears in the WMO’s International Cloud Atlas, an international reference for meteorologists (also prized by cloud geeks, cloud photographers, and nature lovers). The next edition of the Cloud Atlas is scheduled to come out in 2016, at which point aspiritas will be included right alongside some 100 recognized cloud combinations. In addition, a whole new cloud classification species, Volutus (from the Latin volutus, which means rolled) is also slated for inclusion in the 2016 edition. 

Now here's where it gets even more interesting for cloud aficionados who also know their way around a camera. The WMO, through the Cloud Appreciation Society, is soliciting photographs of the new cloud type, and to facilitate that process, the Cloud Appreciation Society has just launched a competition to find the best photograph of asperitas, which will appear in the International Cloud Atlas. This is your chance to make cloudspotting history, as the photo will be the reference image against which all asperitas spottings will be judged. The winner will be announced at the Cloud Appreciation Society Conference in London on September 26, 2015. Go here for more information. 

For those of you whose cloud knowledge begins and ends with "cumulus" and "cirrus," welcome to a whole new world! And don't forget to look at the road from time to time when you find yourself cloudspotting while driving.

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* The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources. WMO has a membership of 191 Member States and Territories.