No new cloud type has been officially classified since 1951 but Gavin Pretor-Pinney who runs the Cloud Appreciation Society believes that there is a new cloud that deserves international recognition. He calls it asperatus, which means rough in Latin. Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand, 2009. [via]

If I saw a sky like this, I’d tell the missus and the kids to pack a bag and get in the car as quietly as possible. Then we’d back out slowly, idle to the freeway on-ramp, and floor it for a couple of days.

Or not. Apparently this unusual cloud formation is benign, not related to precipitation, violent weather or mass extinctions, but merely a harbinger of
The Overnight Open Thread.