Cirrus spissatus radiatus clouds over the Lake District, with aircraft contrails. Cirrus clouds are elongated tufted clouds that are found at altitudes over 5000 metres. They consist of tiny ice crystals which are blown by the wind into wispy shapes. This variety, cirrus spissatus, is a dense cirrus found high up into the stratosphere, as high as altitudes of over 13, 000 metres. Here, it has formed a radiating wind-blown shape. Photographed in the morning in May, looking south-west towards Derwent Water and Borrowdale from the summit of Latrigg (368 metres), in the Lake District, near Keswick, Cumbria, UK. |