mammatus-clouds‘Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way’

These are the first two verses of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’. I remember how moved I was back in 1967 when I first heard these lines. Weather lover and pseudo-hippie that I was at the time, I was blown away by this beautiful poetic song about clouds and weather sung by this groovy far-out chick!

I now realize the song has a lot more depth to it i.e. the incomprehensibility of our changing attitudes towards not only clouds and weather but love and life as well. I think I’ll stick to a discussion of clouds though; the other subjects are a bit complex for the space I have in this column.

There is a lot of beauty in clouds that many people only notice when there is a spectacular sunrise or sunset. In the summer we have ‘ice cream castles in the air’ in the form of building cumulus clouds that are constantly changing in shape and colour. I imagine ‘rows and flows of angel hair’ to be the thin and wispy streaks of cirrus cloud that often foretell the approach of Pacific frontal systems.

There are many other forms of clouds that appear at different times of the year. One of them created by mountain waves called altocumulus lenticularis, possibly influenced the art work of Emily Carr and Vincent Van Gogh. Their landscapes often show swirling multicoloured lens shape clouds that are unique to this type.

Another one, called mammatus is not really a cloud at all but forms in pouches caused by downdrafts under thunderheads in the summer months. These can be quite spectacular if the sun hits them just right near sunset. I remember on my basic weather course in Ottawa, to reinforce our ability to detect this cloud, they showed us a slide of a Playboy Playmate! In case you haven’t figured it out, mammatus is the Latin word for breast.

Last winter there was quite a bit of valley cloud in the Shuswap, not really the stuff of poetry and dreams. On some days it was less than a thousand feet thick but it can still feel rather oppressive especially when it lasts for days on end. For a different perspective though, take a drive up to Silver Star Resort. and after breaking through to blue skies, stop and have a look backward at the undulating sunlit sea of cloud stretching off into the distance. Definitely a way to rid yourself of the Winter blues.

So in spite of the words in the song, clouds do not have to get in your way. On every day of the year, excluding the clear ones that are quite rare, there are clouds worth viewing. With the right attitude, there is something to appreciate even on the darkest and greyest of days.