Clouds are shaped by the many changing characteristics of the atmosphere: temperature, moisture, winds, and more. ... rippled white sheet. Cirrostratus are a more homogenous sheer veil.

To understand how clouds get their shape, it helps to understand the basics of how they form. When air rises and cools, the water vapor it holds condenses into tiny water droplets or ice crystals. If ...

The white oval structures are in fact beautiful examples of lenticular clouds," officials with the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or ...