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New Cloud Types Added For the First Time in 30 Years
March 22, 2017

- Several new cloud classifications have been added by the World Meteorological Organization.
- The new classifications are the first in 30 years for the International Cloud Atlas.

Asperitas and murus are just two of the names you'll see among several new classifications added to an updated cloud reference released this week by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
This update is the first in 30 years for the International Cloud Atlas, which the WMO calls "the global reference for observing and identifying clouds."
A new cloud species has been added to the atlas called volutus, more commonly known as a roll cloud by meteorologists. Cloud species are subdivisions of the 10 basic cloud "genera," the WMO says.
Five new supplementary features have also been added to the updated cloud atlas. Those new names include asperitas, cavum, cauda, fluctus, and murus, all of which are currently known as other more common names by sky watchers.
Asperitas, Latin for wave-like and roughness, has been added to the atlas thanks to the work of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
“Asperitas was first identified with the help of citizen science, enabled by modern technology. When Cloud Appreciation Society members send us photographs of dramatic skies from around the world, it is possible to spot patterns. This is how the proposal for a new classification came about, and we are delighted the WMO has chosen to include it in their definitive reference work for cloud classification,” said Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.