Stratocumulus

These are low clouds usually formed between 1,000 and 6,500 feet (300 and 2,000 metres). Composed of water droplets and can give a sheet of almost total cloud cover with one or two breaks. They can produce falls of light rain or snow. They are formed by weak convection currents, started by turbulent airflows above. The convection affects a shallow zone as dry, static air above the cloud cover prevents further upward development.

Occasionally, when there is a high pressure system, thousands of square kilometres can be covered by huge sheets of stratocumulus. The weather beneath the cloud cover tends to be dry, but can be dull especially if the cloud is 2,000 – 3,000 feet thick.