Stratus, Altostratus, Cirrus, Cumulus

While we have had some unusually warm weather for late winter, it has also been perfect conditions for "cloud watching". We rarely look up to the skies at clouds unless tornadoes or severe thunderstorms are predicted. Clouds are the vapor chambers which form from the collision of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico with the cooler, drier air from Canada. Spring is the perfect season for cloud spawning.

During the socialization period at a recent skills workshop, several persons who freshly moved to the Midwest from the coasts commented on our "cloud buildings". The cumulus clouds they said were so tall and stacked as to be compared to buildings. Another comment, after Thursday's cleansing rain, was that the clouds looked like giant, jagged jig-saw puzzle pieces strewn across the sky. Another one said that the gray-blue sky of that incoming thunderstorm looked like the smoke from a fired Winchester rifle.

Remember as a child when you lay on your back with a friend nearby studying the clouds overhead? Maybe you pointed out the animals (horses, elephants, dragons) in the cloud shapes to your friend. Or maybe you tried to burn a hole through the clouds with your best Superman stare. Or remember your first airplane ride when you ascended through and above the clouds, trying to capture the diaphanous shapes with a camera through the window?

The next four or five days promise to be "cloud worthy." Isolated thunderstorms and "partly cloudy" predict great cloud watching. If you do not have a friend with a high-rise balcony condo, get to another open location like Art Hill or the Moonrise Hotel. Spend some time "cloud gazing" and re-connect to that sense of wonder which nature provides for free.