Yesterday was one of those iconic summer days here: air clear as a good spring water; heat as dry as a Phoenix bake-off, but mitigated well by gusts of Maine northwest sea breezes, and – best of all – plenty of big, find-an-animal clouds in a bright blue sky.
Those puffy clouds are cumulus clouds that often float as low as 3,000 feet or so above our fields of clouds, Queen Anne’s Lace. The clouds’ name derives from the Latin word “cumulo,” meaning “pile” or ‘heap.” When driving or walking back from the sea on the WoodenBoat School campus, the clouds make you feel as if you’re ascending:
When these clouds build big cauliflower tops, they’re called cumulus congestus for obvious reasons. If they continue to grow upward into giant darkening formations, watch out. Those are lightning and thunderstorm factories called cumulonimbus clouds, “nimbus” being Latin for “dark cloud.” (Brooklin, Maine)