What is stratocumulus?

Stratocumulus clouds are the low, puffy blankets that often cover the sky on cloudy days. You can think of them as a giant flannel sheet made of individual cotton balls pressed close together but still showing their shapes.

Imagine you have a bag of marshmallows. If you dump them out and press them down slightly, they clump into a soft, lumpy layer. That is exactly what stratocumulus clouds are! They sit low in the sky, usually less than 20,000 feet up, which means if you stand outside, they feel like they could touch your head. You often see them as gray or white patches with dark spots between them, looking like a bumpy ocean frozen in place.

These clouds are not scary storms; they are usually quite calm. They form when warm air rises and cools down, causing water vapor to turn into tiny water droplets. Unlike thin, wispy cirrus clouds that look like hair, stratocumulus feels heavy and solid.

• They block most direct sunlight but rarely bring rain.
• They often appear before a storm arrives or after it has passed.
• You might see them in lines, called "cloud streets," which look like tire tracks on the sky.

On a day with many stratocumulus clouds, the light is soft and even, so shadows are not very dark. It feels like looking through a slightly dimmed window. They are the everyday friends of the sky, showing up often to keep us cool in summer or signal changing weather in winter. Next time you look up, check for those puffy, gray-white layers that remind you of a cozy quilt.