First Attempts to Classify Clouds

Early on, there was no formal classification of clouds. In their first attempts to classify the clouds they saw, people simply described the shapes and colors of cloud formations as they occurred. Clouds were described in such terms as Mackerel sky and Mare's tails. Although these descriptions were beautiful, they were not particularly useful.

Classifying Clouds with Lamarck

Later attempts to classify the complicated shapes of clouds produced interesting results such as Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lamarck's classification system, which included 12 categories of clouds. Included were descriptions such as hazy clouds, dappled clouds, and broom-like clouds.

Modern Day Cloud Classifications

At about the same time that Lamarck developed his classification system, an Englishman proposed another way to classify clouds, which developed into the system we use today.

This method originated in 1803 with Luke Howard (1772-1864) who named clouds based on their formations, using Latin names.  Howard was a chemist and amateur meteorologist who made many contributions to the science of meteorology.    He was the author of several books including On the Modification of Clouds and The Climate of London.  Howard’s Seven Lectures on Meteorology is considered to be the first textbook on weather. 

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• Four Basic Cloud Levels
• 10 Basic Cloud Types