Cloud Features: The 11 Supplementary Cloud Features

Get to know the 11 supplementary features of clouds

Shelf clouds. Virga. Mammatus clouds. In the cloud classification realm, these are three of the eleven examples of supplementary features. And wouldn’t you know it, all these cloud features have latin terms that can be applied when identifying and classifying clouds.

If you see a thunderstorm cloud with an anvil cloud above it, you can classify the cloud as cumulonimbus incus. Or maybe you observe a fallstreak hole (also known as a hole punch cloud) in a layer of cirrocumulus clouds, you can classify the cloud as cirrocumulus cavum.

Supplementary features of clouds are similar to cloud varieties in that one cloud can have multiple features applied to them. Clicking on the cloud illustrations below will lead you to a page that will provide you with a description, photograph examples, and illustrations of each cloud feature. Each illustration includes the cloud type (abbr.) that the feature is associated with. The orange dot under the cloud type abbreviation indicates the specific cloud type that’s portrayed in the illustration. When applying a supplementary feature to a cloud type that you’re identifying, choose the feature(s) that best describe the cloud you’re observing. ⛅