page_title: List of cloud types
section_title: Genus cumulus: Moderate vertical
hierarchical_section_title: List of cloud types / Cloud identification and classification in the troposphere / Multi-level stratiform and moderate vertical cumuliform (low to mid-level cloud base) / Genus cumulus: Moderate vertical
caption_attribution_description: A color-enhanced version of an aerial photograph of Stratocumulus perlucidus clouds; taken from the rear seat of a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 flying over the midwestern United States, en route from Los Angeles, CA to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.
context_page_description: The list of cloud types groups the main genera as high, middle, multi-level, and low according to the altitude level or levels at which each cloud is normally found. Small cumulus are commonly grouped with the low clouds because they do not show significant vertical extent. Of the multi-level genus-types, those with the greatest convective activity are often grouped separately as towering vertical. The genus types all have Latin names.
  The genera are also grouped into five physical forms. These are, in approximate ascending order of instability or convective activity: stratiform sheets; cirriform wisps and patches; stratocumuliform patches, rolls, and ripples; cumuliform heaps, and cumulonimbiform towers that often have complex structures. Most genera are divided into species with Latin names, some of which are common to more than one genus. Most genera and species can be subdivided into varieties, also with Latin names, some of which are common to more than one genus or species.
context_section_description: Abbreviation: Cu
  Moderate vertical cumulus is the product of free convective airmass instability. Continued upward growth suggests showers later in the day.
caption: Cumulus mediocris (V-61) from above
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