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Crepuscular rays are noticeable when the contrast between light and dark is most obvious. Crepuscular comes from the Latin word crepusculum , meaning "twilight". [ 2 ] Crepuscular rays usually appear orange because the path through the atmosphere at dawn and dusk passes through up to 40 times as much air as rays from a high Sun at noon .
Noctilucent clouds are composed of tiny crystals of water ice up to 100 nm in diameter [4] and exist at a height of about 76 to 85 km (249,000 to 279,000 ft), [5] higher than any other clouds in Earth's atmosphere. [6] Clouds in the Earth's lower atmosphere form when water collects on particles, but mesospheric clouds may form directly from ...
A nimbostratus cloud is a multilevel, amorphous, nearly uniform, and often dark-grey cloud that usually produces continuous rain, snow, or sleet, but no lightning or thunder. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Although it is usually a low-based stratiform cloud, it actually forms most commonly in the middle level of the troposphere and then spreads vertically ...
Clouds of the genus nimbostratus tend to bring constant precipitation and low visibility. This cloud type normally forms above 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) [10] from altostratus cloud but tends to thicken into the lower levels during the occurrence of precipitation. The top of a nimbostratus deck is usually in the middle level of the troposphere.
They often do indicate that rain will fall within the next 24 hours, since the cirrostratus clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system. Other common types of optical phenomena involving water droplets rather than ice crystals include the glory and the rainbow .
As a result, the cloud base can vary from a very light to very dark grey depending on the cloud's thickness and how much light is being reflected or transmitted back to the observer. Thin clouds may look white or appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background. High tropospheric and non-tropospheric clouds appear mostly ...
Unlike hail or sleet, graupel is soft and can be crushed easily in your hand, and is sometimes called "soft hail." It is also usually smaller than hail, with a diameter of around 0.08-0.2 inches.
Stratus nebulosus clouds appear as a featureless or nebulous veil or layer of stratus clouds with no distinctive features or structure. [6] They are found at low altitudes, and are a good sign of atmospheric stability, which indicates continuous stable weather. Stratus nebulosus may produce light rain and drizzle or flakes of snow.