Cloudy

“ Temperature and State of Sky.—Do you notice any relation between the temperature and the state of the sky? In winter are our coldest days usually cloudy or clear? In summer are our hottest days cloudy or clear? Are the winds that give us the most cloudiness warm or cold winds in winter and in summer? Is a cloudy night colder or warmer than a clear night? Is a cloudy day colder or warmer than a clear day?
State of Sky and Precipitation.—How is rainfall or snowfall related to the cloudiness? Do we ever have rain or snow when the sky is not completely covered with clouds? ”

“ A cloudy day, however, frequently happens, and is sometimes succeeded by a day’s rain; but we have noticed frequently, that an overcast sky, when not too obscure, is the best for viewing flowers, and at this time of year often sets off the splendid Vernal Flora to great advantage. ”

“ A sky with a greenish hue, described as a sickly-looking sky, is an indication of both rain and wind. A sailor’s sky, which is red in the morning, means either wind or rain, and it makes no difference if the sky is cloudy or clear, if at sunset it is rosy, it indicates fine weather. A gray sky in the morning indicates fine weather. When daylight is first seen above a bank of clouds, look for a good stiff wind. Wind is indicated if we have a bright yellow sky in the morning, and rain is indicated if the sky takes on a pale yellow hue. ”

“ The day is warm and cloudy, the wind is from the east and then from the south-east, exactly the direction we must go. It is in fact a sirocco, and fills one with languor, which is better than being frost-bitten at home. The evening, with the cabin windows all open, is like one of those soft nights which come at the close of sultry northern days, in which there is a dewy freshness. ”

“ Howard attributes these peculiar phenomena to the “sounding board,” made by the stratum of cloud; but sounds may be heard from the north-west, when there is no condensation, and the wind is from that quarter, and also from the east [Pg 392] when it is not cloudy; and in a level country the village bells often tell the direction of the current of air just over our heads when we do not feel it at the surface. The wind is undoubtedly moving in a rapid, and perhaps invisible current, not far above us. If from the east or south, it betokens rain; if from the western quarter, fair weather. ”

“ Friday, 30th.—Little wind, and sometimes Calm; the first part Clear weather, remainder Foggy and Hazey. Soundings from 44 to 49 fathoms; Grey sandy Bottom. Caught both this Morning and last Night a great Number of insects. Some were upon the Wing, but the greater part were upon the water, and many of these alive and of such sort as cannot fly far; and yet at this Time we could not be less than 30 Leagues from Land. Wind variable; course S. 30° W.; distance 54 m.; lat. 42° 32′ S., long. 60° 15′ W.
Saturday, 31st.—Cloudy weather, with some Lightning and a few showers of rain. ”

“ These were generally attended with Showers of Rain, or hail, and Squals of Wind, but as we advanced to the Southward, these Clouds became less dence, and in the Latitude of 60° 10′, when we got the winds Easterly, the weather was more serene and Milder; again as we advanced to the Northward we had a constant Clouded sky and dark gloomy weather, the whole time exceeding Cold.
Tuesday, 14th.—The first part, fresh Gales and Hazey with rain; the remainder moderate and Cloudy, with frequent rain. Wind, Westerly, South; course S.W.; distance 32 m.; lat. ”

“ Often in our English mornings, the rain-clouds in the dawn form soft level fields, which melt imperceptibly into the blue; or when of less extent, gather into apparent bars, crossing the sheets of broader cloud above; and all these bathed throughout in an unspeakable light of pure rose-color, and purple, and amber, and blue; not shining, but misty-soft; the barred masses, when seen nearer, composed of clusters or tresses of cloud, like floss silk; looking as if each knot were a little swathe or sheaf of lighted rain. No clouds form such skies, none are so tender, various, inimitable. ”

“ If the Sun or Moon look pale, look for Rain: if a dark Cloud be at Sun-rising, in which the Sun soon after is hid, it will dissolve it, and Rain will follow: if the Sun seem greater in the East than commonly, it is a sign of Rain, if in the West about Sun-setting there appear a black Cloud, you may expect Rain that night, or the day following, if in the winter time thick white Clouds appear in the South-east near the Horizon at Sun rising, they portend Snow, a day or two after: If black Clouds appear there, it is a sign of Rain. ”

“ The night of the big wind was followed by a day and a night of gusts of wind and sleety rain; then followed a day and a night of rising clouds, then a day when the clouds were scattered and the sun was cold. That day the sunset was grim, white, and freezing cold.
In the morning there was a bright, warm sunrise, a breath of sweet, soft air, and unimaginable brightness and buoyancy, birds singing, squirrels barking, and all the dismal pangs banished. ”

“ Great, white, billowy, fair-weather clouds rolled up in open order before the fresh west wind, and the shadows of them trailed across the face of the earth, moving swiftly, sharply defined, sweeping patches of shade against the green and gold of a clean-washed, sunny summer world. ”

“ The cloud veils an angry sun, or, more terribly, lets fly an angry ray, suddenly bright upon tree and tower, with iron-grey storm for a background. Or when anger had but threatened, the cloud reveals him, gentle beyond hope. It makes peace, constantly, just before sunset.
It is in the confidence of the winds, and wears their colours. There is a heavenly game, on south-west wind days, when the clouds are bowled by a breeze from behind the evening. They are round and brilliant, and come leaping up from the horizon for hours. This is a frolic and haphazard sky. ”

“ When the clouds are formed like fleeces, but dense in the middle and bright towards the edges, with a bright sky, they are signs of frost, with hail, snow or rain. If clouds breed high in the air, with white trains like locks of wool, they portend wind, probably rain. When a generally cloudiness covers the sky, and small black fragments of clouds fly underneath, they are sure signs of rain, and probably it may last some time. ”

“ Baby of the cloud, rain is carried long enough within that troubled breast to make all the multitude of days unlike each other. Rain, as the end of the cloud, divides light and withholds it; in its flight warning away the sun, and in its final fall dismissing shadow. ”

“ There is something greater than I am, and that is the cloud. Look!’ And as he spoke a cloud spread itself over the sun’s face, blotting out his rays.
‘Oh, well, we will speak to the cloud,’ said the mother. And turning to the cloud she repeated her proposal.
‘Indeed I am unworthy of anything so charming,’ answered the cloud; ‘but you make a mistake again in what you say. There is one thing that is even more powerful than I, and that is the wind. ”

“ A cloud, heavy with rain, drifts across the sky, and big, cool drops splash with a hissing noise in the fire, upon our upturned faces, upon the warm, flower-sown earth which exhales, like incense, the odours of sun-heated soil and summer shower. ”

“ If rain is not at all seasons pleasant and delightful, neither are rain-clouds among the most beautiful which diversify the landscape of the sky; for it has been well remarked, that “all the fine-weather clouds are beautiful, and those connected with rain and wind mostly the reverse.” ”

“ The sky in summer is clear and of a beautiful azure, without cloud, and with very little rain; moderate dews descend after sunset As the autumn approaches, the weather becomes less serene; the sky is occasionally darkened with clouds, and lightning and thunder with heavy showers occur. ”

“ When formed into clouds in the atmosphere it is borne back on the wings of the wind, condensed by the cold air and falls in copious showers of rain upon the earth, to purify the atmosphere, moisten and fertilize the fields and cause vegetation to spring forth in its beauty. ”

“ A cloud had for some days past hung over the habitual gaiety of the cheery little man, a cloud neither black with thunder nor leaden with low-hanging rain, but rather one of those pearly transparencies that flutter about sunset skies, catching and transmuting every glorious glow of crimson and gold and purple. ”

“ In the spring there are the clouds which send down the precious rain, the musk-scented breezes and life-giving zephyrs; the air is perfectly temperate, the rain falls, the sun shines, the fecundating wind wafts the clouds, the world is renewed, and the breath of life appears in plants, in animals and in men. Earthly beings pass from one condition to another. ”

“ It is not clear whether the light of the cloud means the lightning again or the varied hues which make an Oriental sunset glorious in purple and gold. But the balancings of the clouds must be that singular power which the atmosphere has of sustaining vast quantities of watery vapour—either miles above the earth's surface where the filmy cirrhus floats, dazzling white against the blue sky, or lower down where the rain-cloud trails along the hill-tops. ”

“ Far above the seeming clouds you notice, directly over your head when it rains or snows, are the rain or snow clouds, dense and dark, passing to the eastward, how strong soever the wind may blow from the quarter to which they tend, or any other quarter, between you and them. ”

“ Watch the clouds as they rise higher in the heavens; see how the sun-god has kissed them into blushes as bright as the damask-rose, sending a flood of yellow light to cover them with greater confusion. Now they float gently upward till they reach the clear, blue sky, from where the yellow light has faded; and, watching bevies of other clouds, still dancing in the light above the first rays of the rising sun, the color fades from them, and they waft hither and thither—white clouds on deep blue ground—till the morning breeze bears them away from our sight. ”

“ The veil of clouds, either after a squall, with or without rain, or after the coming of the land breeze, is speedily withdrawn, and leaves the sky clearer during the night, only now and then flecked with dark clouds floating over from the land. ”

“ Moisture into the clouds. And when therein
The seeds of water so many in many ways
Have come together, augmented from all sides,
The close-jammed clouds then struggle to discharge
Their rain-storms for a two-fold reason: lo,
The wind's force crowds them, and the very excess
Of storm-clouds (massed in a vaster throng)
Giveth an urge and pressure from above
And makes the rains out-pour. ”

“ To-Em-Mei’s “The Unmoving Cloud”
“Wet springtime,” says To-em-mei,
“Wet spring in the garden.”
I.
The clouds have gathered, and gathered,
and the rain falls and falls,
The eight ply of the heavens
are all folded into one darkness,
And the wide, flat road stretches out. ”

“ The day is cold; the wind is strong;
And through the sky great cloud-banks throng,
While swathes of snow lie on the ground
O'er which I walk without a sound,
But I have vowed to fly to-day
Though winds are fierce, and clouds are grey. ”

“ When you see hard-edged clouds, look for wind. When you see delicate soft clouds, look for fine weather and probably moderate breeze or high breeze. When you see gloomy dark clouds in a blue sky, look for slight winds. When you see a bright blue sky through fine clouds that are soft and delicate, this indicates fine weather. When you see soft-looking clouds, you can expect less wind, but probably rain. But when the clouds become hard and ragged, tufted and rolling in appearance, stronger winds are coming. When you see small clouds that are inky looking, look for rain. ”

“ A cloud gathers behind the mountains—yonder, where they come interlacing down, narrowing the valley. It is a little cloud, no one observes it; yet it gathers and spreads and blackens, until the sky is veiled. ”

“ No matter how violent or how capricious the wind may be, the instant it approaches the spot where the chilly influence of the snow extends, the moisture it carries becomes visible, and then and there the cloud forms on the instant, apparently maintaining its form against the wind, though the careful and keen eye can see all its parts in the most rapid motion across the mountain. ”

“ Rapidly this bears down upon us, increasing in size as it comes, till it reaches towards the zenith, blotting out the storm clouds, mountains, and plain with a pall as dense as a curtain. For those in the cloud the wind is burning hot [5] ; the fine dust covers the face, cakes the eyelashes and even the teeth. ”

“ At first, in the distant west, a cloud rises so dark that you can scarcely distinguish it from a blue highland. But a low muttering of thunder vibrates through the sultry air, and we know what is coming. Soon the afternoon sun is shaded, and a deep, unnatural twilight settles upon the landscape like the shadow of a great sorrow on a face that was smiling a moment before. ”

“ Do not the calmest and brightest days of autumn show clouds, that drift their ragged edges over the golden disk, and bear down swift with their weight of vapors, until the sun's whole surface is shrouded; and you can see no shadow of tree or flower upon the land, because of the greater and gulping shadow of the cloud? ”

“ A tinted fringe of cloud appears on the mists high up, and gives the impression of a beam of sunlight amidst the shadows. But no sun has broken the eastern sky-line, nor will it for another half-hour. ”

“ An occasional cloud, fleecy and jagged, sails lazily aloft, marking its shadow on the mountain side. In a few days—a few hours, perhaps—the blue sky will be unbroken, the air hushed, a hot breath will move among the leaves, or pant over the trickling fountains. ”

“ Even here the cloud is not so victorious as when it towers above some little landscape of rather paltry interest—a conventional river heavy with water, gardens with their little evergreens, walks, and shrubberies; and thick trees impervious to the light, touched, as the novelists always have it, with “autumn tints.” High over these rises, in the enormous scale of the scenery of clouds, what no man expected—an heroic sky. Few of the things that were ever done upon earth are great enough to be done under such a heaven. ”