Some of our members might recall that last year we highlighted the need for a new cloud classification. This was a result of photos sent in from members around the world of a turbulent, wavy cloud formation which didn't easily fit within the existing cloud terms. We decided that a good name for it would be ‘asperatus’, from the Latin for ‘roughened’. The new cloud name soon became a worldwide news story (e.g. The Guardian, Time Magazine, National Geographic Mag).
Graeme Anderson, Member 23172, an MSc meteorology student at Reading University in the UK has researched the cloud formation and written a dissertation about the conditions in which it forms. This will prove useful in our efforts to get asperatus recognised as an official classification. We will give more information about this in future newsletters, as well as suggesting a simple way that you can help us prove that it is possible for observers to distinguish this cloud from the other existing types.