ABOUT CLOUDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 209, 3 September 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

ABOUT CLOUDS.

Do you ever sit at your window watching the clouds—wondering a little about them—what they are called, for instance, and whether they give promise of wet or fine days to come? There are seven different kinds of clouds that you can look for and learn to recognise. First there is the rain cloud. It is called "nimbus," and is grey, and spreads all over the sky. Sometimes little ragged bits come sailing along first; they are bits of the nimbus broken off by the wind, and are called "messengers" because they hurry ahead to tell us that rain is following close behind. The "staeken-cloud" is the big cotton wool cloud that looks like lots of smaller ones stacked on each other. They rellect lovely lights at sunset, tind when the sun liiis gone they break up and disappear, innving the sky clear behind them. "Curl-clouds" are fine weather clouds, and are usually very beautiful. They look as thojigh" Mother Goose had been plucking her geese up in the sky, but had decided not to send the foathers down as snowllakes after all, so had swept them up in. little groups against the bine, leaving lots of room between them all for the sun to shine through! "Wave-clouds" are the long, thin ones that lie along the horizon, or, Hrigber up, change their shape as they move along, making the sky look all mottled. Tt is then called a "mackerel" sky, and is a sign of coming wind and rain. You will often see several kinds of clouds in the sky at once, curl-clouds and stacken-elouds joined together, or etacken-clouds against a background of wave-clouds. IMs fun trying to decide on the weather tl'-t is eoinjtig when you see these composite skies'. Start keeping a ".weather chart," boys nud gills, and write dowa each day uotee about tlio clouds.