(Cc)

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Height of base:	above 5000 to 15000 m (16,500 – 45,000 ft) (high-level clouds)
Description:	Small heaps white or bluish no shading less than 1º across (less than 1 finger wide at 30º above horizon)
Occurrence:	World-wide
Made of:	Supercooled water droplets, ice crystals
Precipitation:	None
Formation:	Transition between Ci and Cs, transient
Species:	Stratiformis, lenticularis, castellanus. floccus
Varieties:	Undulatus, lacunosus
How to distinguish from …	Altocumulus (Ac)	Ac cloudlets are larger than one finger’s width at outstretched arm 30º above horizon Cloudlets of Cc have no shading
	Cirrus and cirrostratus (Ci, Cs)	Cc elements are grain-like, not fibrous

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Cirrocumulus Morris, Feb 06	Cirrocumulus floccus Morris, Dec07	Cirrocumulus stratiformis (no shading!) Morris, Jan 2008
Cirrocumulus above stratocumulus, in advance of incoming warmfront from SW, Morris, June2008	Same as left, 10 minutes later; notice Undulatus edges

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Last modified: 6/1/2008

Maintained by Sylke Boyd