Stratocumulus castellanus or Stratocumulus castellatus is a type of
stratocumulus cloud,
castellanus is derived from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
, meaning 'of a castle' This type of cloud appears as cumuliform turrets vertically rising from a common horizontal cloud base, these turrets are taller than they are wide
This type of cloud indicates an increasingly unstable atmosphere, and seeing this type of cloud in the morning usually means that there is a possibility of
thunderstorms
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...
forming later in the afternoon
In the right conditions, these clouds can grow into cumulus congestus clouds, and sometimes, into cumulonimbus clouds
References
{{Cloud types
Cumulus
Clouds