Today was stratocumulus day; they are graceful and way up at the top of the sky. They are also misleading, they have usually been blown way up by powerful wind shears, and some weather is often coming behind them.

They are the sweetest and calmest clouds, and I saw them all day. But they are just kidding. Within 24 hours, there will be some rain.

This one got a little angry; clouds like this mean the hot air creates shadows, and the wind pushes them up and flattens them out.

They live at the very top of the sky, miles up. This cloud above was the gentlest one I saw all day; it had a soft and quiet quality. That doesn’t mean it’s quiet up there, just down where I was.

I think this last one was a Stratocumulus castellanus, with convector cumuliform turrets and swirls rising from a lower horizontal base.

If the convection (mixing hot and cold air) continues, the turrets may grow upwards (I think I see one here), turning into cumulus congestus clouds (photo one).

Clouds are disloyal and constantly change their allegiance, shape, and identity and will switch back again an hour or two later.

Clouds are independent and willful. If they don’t like the weather, they wait for something better, just like people.

Now that I’m paying attention, I realize that the clouds are constantly changing; every time I look up, the sky is different.