Asperatus clouds

A new cloud clas­si­fi­ca­tion — the first new clas­si­fi­ca­tion since 1951.

First seen in 2005/2006

Clouds look like the agi­tat­ed sur­face of the ocean — called undu­lus asper­a­tus, Latin for “rough” [wiki]

Dis­cov­ered by Jane Wig­gins of Des Moines, Iowa, who snapped a dig­i­tal photo from a downtown office build­ing in June 2006. [togalleries/new-cloud-pictures/images/primary/090603–01-new-cloud-pictures_big.jpg”>pic]

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Photos

Google search

tos/tags/asperatus”>Flickr search

UK Guardian’s gallery

Large photos in gallery at io9

In the media

AP arti­cle

today.com/weather/research/2009–06-14-cloud_N.htm”>USA Today

togalleries/new-cloud-pictures/index.html”>Nation­al Geo­graph­ic, June 2009 (illus­trat­ed)

tories/2009/06/12/tech/main5083351.shtml”>CBS news story includes crit­i­cism of new cloud cat­e­go­ry