Cirrocumulus Clouds

Cirrocumulus Clouds

Cirrocumulus clouds are high-altitude clouds that usually occur at an altitude of 5 km to 12 km. Like other cumulus clouds, cirrocumulus clouds signify convection. Unlike other cirrus clouds, cirrocumulus include liquid water droplets, although these are in a supercooled state. Ice crystals are also present, and typically, the ice crystals cause the supercooled water drops in the cloud to rapidly freeze, transforming the cirrocumulus into cirrostratus. This process can also produce precipitation in the form of a virga consisting of ice or snow. Thus cirrocumulus clouds are usually short-lived.

Properly, the term cirrocumulus refers to each cloud, but is typically also used to refer to an entire patch of cirrocumulus. When used in this way, each cirrocumulus element is referred to as a “cloudlet”.

Read more about Cirrocumulus Clouds here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrocumulus_cloud