Clouds are not simply obstacles between us and sunshine. They reveal what is happening in the atmosphere, connect science with art and offer an accessible way for people to engage with nature.
In the latest Met Office Deeper Dive, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society and author of The Cloudspotter’s Guide, explores the science, culture and beauty of clouds. He also explains why looking up can help people reconnect with the natural world.
What is the Cloud Appreciation Society?
The Cloud Appreciation Society is an international community that encourages people to notice, understand and appreciate clouds.
Gavin founded the society in 2005, although his interest in clouds did not begin through formal meteorological training. After studying mathematics and science at school, he studied philosophy and psychology at university before moving into graphic design.
This combination proved well suited to cloud appreciation. Clouds are governed by atmospheric physics, but they have also inspired artists, poets and writers throughout history. They occupy a meeting point between scientific understanding and human imagination.
The idea for the society began to take shape while Gavin was on a sabbatical in Rome.
He said: “While I was there, I began thinking about how different the skies were. You do get amazing clouds in Rome, these beautiful, huge, powerful cumulonimbus clouds, but a lot of the time you open the curtains and it’s another blue-sky day.
“At first you think, ‘It’s like I’m on holiday.’ But after a while, it’s another day without a cloud in the sky, and I began to feel like something was missing.
“It was that variety each day brings, that sense of change in the weather that is most clearly expressed in the sky. Each day is like a new page to read when you look up.
“I realised there was something about clouds that went beyond the weather. I found that mix of science, art and emotion really interesting.”
How did the Cloud Appreciation Society begin?
After returning to the UK, Gavin was invited to speak at a literary festival in Cornwall. He called his talk 'The Inaugural Lecture of the Cloud Appreciation Society', initially as a light-hearted way to attract an audience.
Gavin said: “I came back from Rome thinking, ‘I want to do something with clouds.’ I didn’t know whether it would be a book, a television programme or a talk.
“I thought I’d make it a funny lecture, put on a lab coat, have a pointer and say that I was launching a society, even though I didn’t really mean to.
“Afterwards, everyone came up asking, ‘How do I join?’ I said, ‘Give me your email and maybe I’ll start it.’ And that’s how it began.”
Why should we appreciate clouds?
In the UK, cloud is often presented negatively. A bright, sunny day tends to be described as “good” weather, while familiar expressions include having a cloud hanging over you or seeing a cloud on the horizon.
However, sunshine and interesting clouds are not mutually exclusive. A sunny day with delicate cirrus can produce a striking sky, even if those high clouds may also signal an approaching weather front.
The Cloud Appreciation Society encourages people to reconsider these everyday features of the atmosphere. A cloud does not need to be rare to be worth noticing. Even familiar formations can reveal how the atmosphere is changing from one moment to the next.
This idea has resonated internationally. The Cloudspotter’s Guide was rejected by 28 publishers before becoming a bestseller and being translated into 20 languages.
Its success reflects a widespread fascination with clouds, often associated with memories of looking for shapes in the sky during childhood.
What is an asperitas cloud?
Asperitas is a supplementary cloud feature characterised by chaotic, wave-like structures on the underside of a cloud layer. Viewed from below, asperitas can resemble the rough surface of the sea.
It is not one of the ten principal cloud genera, such as cumulus, stratus and cirrus. Instead, it describes a distinctive feature that can appear within a cloud formation.
The journey towards its formal recognition began when Cloud Appreciation Society member Jane Wiggins submitted a photograph taken in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Similar photographs later arrived from Australia and other parts of the United States.
These observations suggested the formation was distinctive and recognisable, but did not fit comfortably within the classifications available at the time.
Following discussions with the Royal Meteorological Society, the proposed feature was considered by the World Meteorological Organization. Asperitas was included in a new edition of the International Cloud Atlas in 2017, nine years after Gavin began proposing its classification.
The name comes from the Latin word for roughness, reflecting the cloud feature’s turbulent appearance.
Key asperitas facts
- Classification: Supplementary cloud feature
- Common appearance: Chaotic, undulating waves beneath a cloud layer
- Name meaning: Roughness
- International recognition: Included in the International Cloud Atlas in 2017
- Recognition process: Took nine years from the initial proposal
Why do clouds continually change?
Clouds are not fixed objects. They are visible stages in a constantly changing atmospheric process.
They form and evolve as water moves between vapour, liquid droplets and ice crystals under changing atmospheric conditions. A cumulus cloud, for example, can continue developing into a cumulonimbus rather than remaining in one permanent form.
This creates a challenge for cloud classification because individual clouds do not always fit neatly into a single category.
Pharmacist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard addressed this problem when he proposed his Latin system for naming clouds in 1802. His system recognised that clouds are dynamic while giving observers a shared vocabulary for identifying recurring patterns.
That common language subsequently became an important part of meteorology’s development as a science.
Can technology help us appreciate the sky?
Modern technology presents both a challenge and an opportunity for cloud appreciation.
Mobile devices can draw our attention away from the world around us. However, having a camera in a pocket also allows people to record unusual cloud formations whenever and wherever they appear.
Gavin said: “This tension between looking down and looking up, between device culture and our relationship with nature, is central to the Cloud Appreciation Society.
“People often have a nostalgic feeling about clouds and finding shapes in them because it takes them back to being a child, when there was space in the day to sit back and let their imagination drift along in the breeze.
“That part of our day is being threatened by the device in our hand, which is always demanding our attention. If you’re waiting for a bus, rather than simply looking up at the sky, you’re looking down at your phone.
“But at the same time, the society wouldn’t exist without the digital world. The ability for people to photograph an amazing or rare cloud formation, such as asperitas, is incredibly important.”
Many notable cloud photographs are taken unexpectedly rather than during a planned observation. Someone leaving a supermarket, walking to work or looking out of a window can notice a formation, photograph it and share it within moments.
Gavin added: “That only happens because everyone has these devices in their pockets. It creates this distributed view of the atmosphere that an organisation like the Cloud Appreciation Society can build upon. It gives someone who looks up and thinks, ‘That’s a cool cloud,’ somewhere to share it.”
For Gavin, the society’s future lies increasingly in this global community. Cloud names provide a shared scientific vocabulary, while the sky itself offers a universal point of connection.
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