Clouds in mystery

Clouds – those furry, cottony balls of moisture that we constantly see in the sky tell us a lot about the weather. When you can feel the grass below and the sky above is your canopy, you can decipher as many shapes in them as you can think of as they float by.

There is old Mother Hubbard with her brood of kids, the oversized teddy bear, the stubborn billy goat and her two kids, the rather grumpy and groggy St Bernard dragging a sledge behind, the old man with a wobbly walking stick... As kids, our imagination would go into overdrive trying to see those 'funny beings' up in the sky.

But as we grew older we learnt that clouds do tell us what to expect in the forthcoming hours.

The deep-set, deep blue, angry clouds indicate a storm whipping up its fury in the distance; the dark, overcast ones make a cloudburst or downpour; the soft white clouds mixed with the smaller white ones in a happy pattern indicate amenable weather, just the kind when you can lay out the hamper and have a picnic in your backyard.

Here we see a glowing blue-gold canvas behind the Burj Al Arab, Dubai where the clouds look like furrows in a field. Meteorologists call this formation Altocumulus Undulatus.

This formation usually indicates a strong wind shear (when wind suddenly changes direction) and predicts a strong breezy evening.

According to Wikipedia, the Altocumulus Undulatus is a mid-level cloud (about 2,400 to 6,100 metres), usually white or grey with layers or patches containing undulations that resemble waves or ripples in water.

But to my eye it looks as though an aggressive barber has taken hold of an unruly child's unkempt locks and run shears smoothly through them.