Atlas Insider
Atlas Insider: Cloud Time
One of my first jobs in the arts was working with the incredible textile designer, Teresa Hays, at her marbling studio in Franklin, Tennessee.
Mornings started at a very loosely interpreted 10 am: Teresa and I popped into the studio, downed a cup of her extra-strong morning coffee, split half of a peanut butter cookie,* then refilled our cups for just the right amount of fuel before mixing paint and marbling yards of scarves and fabric—all before Terri Gross’s Fresh Air began at 11 am.
Most days, once the coffee had kicked in, we would gab about life and the universe and how we feel about this, that, and the other.
Some days, though, one or both of us would request Cloud Time, which was just a nice way of saying—I don’t feel like chatting, my head is in the clouds, and I like it here. We would work in comfortable silence, methodically marbling, watching paint splatter on the filmy surface of the marbling bath, briefly making eye contact and nodding to say “great job, move here, ready-set-go” as we laid long sheets of yardage onto the paint.
Scenes from Teresa’s Studio, featuring my favorite coffee cup. In the gallery above: A Peony in the Clouds, A Wave in the Clouds, Ingredients for Cloud Stew. Enjoy!
It has been years since the days of marbling and Fresh Air, but I still find myself taking a Cloud Break, even if just for a few minutes (wait … what time is it?).
A Giveaway
The prize? Two Shawl Balls from Tina Whitmore, one of the most artful yarn dyers we know.
We’ll pick two colors and add a copy of MDK Field Guide No. 21: Brioche for a cloud-light, color-bright Honeycomb Scarf.
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.
Step 2: What’s the most remarkable thing you’ve seen in the clouds? Let us know in the comments.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, September 4, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
MDK Field Guide No. 10: Downtown, Mohonk and Mohonk Light are this month’s MDK Gems! Special offer here, ending Wednesday, August 31. Isabell Kraemer’s designs sparkle in Jill Draper’s farm-to-skein, hand-dyed yarns.
*Teresa kept cookies from Dozen Bakery in her freezer … the elite way of storing the best cookie in the whole world, if you ask me.
Lenticular clouds over Mount Rainier – not so much castles in the air, as space ships 😉 https://news.wsu.edu/news/2016/09/14/lenticular-clouds-truth/
Dragons flying over earth protecting all below
I’ve seen many animals and faces. One ti e, thecloud formation looked like mountains in the distance.
I love how the big picture has so many different interesting pieces that make up the whole, and never the same picture from moment to moment!
In any cloud, I see the beauty and awe of God’s creation.
I see what looks to me like ripples in a pond…it makes me feel peaceful.
Mammatus clouds
Once on a very still cloudy day I heard a noise high above me, when I looked up an enormous flock of geese emerged from the clouds. It was magic!
Sunsets thru the clouds over the lake.
Driving a country road at sunset, where cirrus clouds were all the colors of sky and sun. That road moved in the perfect direction to give us the sunset view for 45 minutes. We were stunned, silent. Dusk was holy.
Inspiration to skip towards my future.
At my home we often have a marine layer of overcast sky. I feel so free when we visit somewhere with clouds high in a blue sky. I can breathe.
A bunny rabbit in the clouds
I am fascinated by clouds…especially their luminous colors! No box of Crayolas could ever match the subtle shades of sky art.
Mountain tops
A couple about to kiss, it was so sweet.
Huge wall cloud of coming summer storm
I love when the sun beams down through a hole in the cloud..sort of a nudge to us to keep at it, we’re gonna make it through no matter what comes at us.
YES!
I have always loved clouds- I love Georgia O’keeffe’s cloud paintings
I see interesting faces in the clouds.
Recently saw a sky full of cumulocirrus clouds which were amazing!
Bunny rabbits and at sunset, I see breathtaking inspiration of colours splashed across endless prairie skies.
When rain is needed, clouds are a joyful hopeful sight!
Gorgeous color combinations for knitting.
So many hours, lying in a hammock with my mother, who was an artist. We would watch the clouds, shape shifting into animals. Now, I look up to see and remember my darling mother.
Seeing clouds (and what they looked like) through thd eyes of my children when they were young was the best!
A dragon in oranges and slate blue.
The reminder to relax and enjoy the changing sky.
My inner soul – leaving me with peace and calm
I almost always see animals.
A lightning storm over Lake Superior. The storm was moving away from our location. We watched it for a very long time.
Lightning as dances through the storm clouds without hitting the ground.
The most fascinating clouds in my opinion are pyrocumulonimbus clouds – clouds that form above a wildland or forest fire.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus_flammagenitus
Math equations
I once saw an interview with Oprah and the president of the cloud appreciation society. He showed many pictures of clouds that were so variable and interesting. Even though I grew up sailing and could “read” the clouds, it changed my perspective to see their beauty and glory. Almost hardly a day goes by that I don’t point out some section of cloud perfection to one of my kids. They now see (actually look) at nature and share their love with me. ☁️ It fills my heart.
Huge fluffy whiteness against a vivid blue sky framed in green leaves and hot pink crepe myrtle blossoms….joy!
Never the same thing twice
Storm clouds and angry faces
When I was young, I took a picture of the clouds. When we got the pictures back, it looked like Jesus coming through the clouds. That is one of my favorite photos and I always remember it when I’m going through a tough time.
I once saw a cloud formation that looked like a comet, and it lasted my whole 5 mile walk home from work. It was awesome.
Animals
A row of sky dolphins chasing little sky fish.
Noctilucent clouds high above Derbyshire, so beautiful…
A big, fluffy cloud with a hole in the middle…like a big, yummy donut.
Always loved clouds at sunset when the sky looks painted with shades of oranges and reds, or when it’s purples, violet, and blue.
Peace
I remember laying outside on a beautiful day during summer school vacation watching the clouds drift by, morphing from one shape into another! I do ofter sit outside & watch the clouds/sky on a beautiful day! I should do it more often! It’s very relaxing & it’s completely free of charge! It only costs me some free time but the benefits are amazing!
The big white fluffy ones set against a blue, blue summer sky are my favourite. Thanks for the offer! 🙂
I saw green clouds during a violent thunderstorm while driving to my radiation treatment.
When flying (in a plane) on a cloudy or rainy day, i love to rise above the clouds to the beautiful blue sky that apparently is always there!
I agree. Nice to be reminded that the beautiful clear blue sky is still there.
I saw a cloud with a part of it the colors of a rainbow. It has a name but I don’t remember what it is.
A tornado descending…..not really what you want, but amazing
Clouds over the Maroon Bells in Colorado.
Twin tornados hovering over a neighbors farm just before they descended to wipe out their barn.
My mother died at age 92. The day of her funeral started out with thunderstorms, the sky full of grey storm clouds.
At the finish of her funeral Mass the church bells were rung 92 times in her honor. As we left the church the bells rang, the rain stopped, and the grey clouds broke. A double rainbow popped out.
I took the clouds to be a reminder that in this life we’ll always have trials and tribulations. The clear sky and the rainbow remind us that death sets us free.
Thank you!
What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Flying above storm clouds with lightening. It’s too bad I couldn’t capture it in a painting.
While traveling in Croatia, we drove over the Dinaric Alps. The strong wind, called Bora, blows the fluffy clouds into a straight line. At times the Bora is so strong that the highway is closed for safety. I took photos of the cloud formation and took video to capture the sound of the wind.
I saw the white fluffy clouds form a Angel on a beautiful bright sunny day. The Angel formation had a glow around it.
I picked up a hitchiker one day in Hawaii. A very nice young man. His name was Nimbus!
I’ve always loved that feeling of suspended animation when flying into the clouds.
Miles of cotton balls in rows. So cool.
I love looking for animal shapes in the clouds – a puppy playing, a cat chasing yarn
I love seeing lightning in the clouds
Sometimes as the sun sets, the fleeting hues of purple I keep wanting to capture in my dye projects.
One Autumn, Ied a troop of Bog Scouts to a park for a nature hike in way upstate New York. We made a camp fire at dusk and the clouds appeared unusual; longish and verticals. Suddenly, there were purple, dark pink, and yellows streaks that were undulating !
We were treated to a rare sighting of The Northern Lights but it was the clouds that had caught our attention.
We spread blankets, called parents for permission to stay, laid out blankets and enjoyed the night sky.
The ever changing colors in clouds at sunset and sunrise. They keep changing through a rainbow of colors and at times look gilded. I love watching all clouds in their ever changing patterns.
Most unusual: volutus clouds rolling to land from the sea, otherwise I often sea clouds morphing into dragons, dogs or random clothing items….
Tornado – black grey swirling. And totally hypnotic. Kansas in the summer.
Same as Jan. Kansas in summer. I remember looking out across the plains at summer camp and seeing several funnel clouds. We had to push all our beds together and sleep under them on the floor.
Riding east but facing west on the LIRR at sundown after a particularly violent thunderstorm, I saw clouds in colors I had never seem before and haven’t since — the most amazingly vibrant purples and oranges. One of those things you know while you’re experiencing it that you’ll always remember.
The actual silver lining! Waiting at the bus stop near our home with my mom. I remember looking up and seeing dark clouds, and a great big one had that silver lining that they speak about. My little girl me felt surprised, happy and proud that I saw something in real life which I had only heard about in a popular saying.
Iridescent clouds, a fogbow and my dreams
The especially spectacular colors of the clouds at sunset.
Animal shapes morphing frolicking
Lenticular clouds, also, over Tehachapi, California, where a transverse range of mountains pushes up warm air from the Central Valley to the Mohave. Also, cloud dragons.
A west Texas thunderstorm is an amazing light show
Rays of sunlight breaking through clouds. Feels like a sign from the higher power.
Any sky with clouds is enough. Clouds hold such beauty and inspiration.
Early morning Jacob’s ladder clouds ,amazing
I love when rays of sun are coming through the clouds, so peaceful
To meditate I close my eyes and imagine that my thoughts are clouds floating across the sky. This works to settle a restless mind!
A vividly colored sundog. It was incredible!
The stark contrast of fluffy white clouds right next to angry dark storm clouds can be amazing.
My husband and I saw the Northern Lights on our last night in Iceland several years ago. As we stood in an urban park staring at the sky, a man walked through the park singing in n Icelandic. Magical!
Heaven
A cloud looking like a dolphin.
I saw a rainbow which appeared to be coming from the Rainbow Hotel in Honolulu while watching the sunset on my last night visit this July. Amazing!
Clouds here are usually just cotton candy or solid grey, but I did see a good lion shaped cloud this year.
Here in west central Florida the lightning over the Gulf is an awesome sight. The waterspouts are pretty amazing too as long as they stay on the water!
Sunsets on Chesapeake Bay, too many beautiful ones to count.
Wispy clouds around a full moon over Lake Huron
Here in Florida it’s storm season and the clouds are huge and start at the horizon and rise up like bubbles in a bubble bath one right after another all along the horizon.
Hiking in the white mountains of NH, we were on a ridge socked in with clouds. Suddenly the wind started to swirl and within seconds the whole valley of clouds below us started to move and rush towards us and then was just GONE. I’ve never seen anything as dramatic in my life.
I used to like finding shapes in clouds but now I love watching them move. Something about it calms me down.
Sometimes, it is the absence of the clouds that create the room to dream—cloudless skies over Penobscot Bay.
Flying above a soft, sunny, white blanket of clouds, when you know there’s a rain storm bothering all the mere mortals below!
The sky in Northern New Mexico goes on forever, and you can be standing in sunshine while you watch a storm over the mountains many, many miles away
The possibility of the existence of serenity.
Most remarkable was a brilliant after a storm!
I think the most magnificent is low storm clouds approaching at sunset and seeing the beautiful pink, purples peeking from behind with rays of sunshine. Reminds me of hope and despair in our lives together always.
I am more likely to see dragons than anything else. Must be what I’m looking for.
My mother endured Alzheimer’s for 15 years. Early in her journey, I would take her to doctor appointments. Along the ride she was always fascinated with the clouds! She found many shapes that she would eagerly report to me. It was nice to see her joyful at that time!
A tornado descending.
When I was a child I would lay on the grass looking up at the clouds and pick out animal shapes in the Maine skies. It may be a bit more difficult for me to get up off the grass now but at 82 I still do it!
We lived out of state for a few years and the brilliant blue skies with the puffy white clouds was something I missed dearly during that time. I hope you will still be laying in the grass looking at clouds for many many more years. Maine is a wonderland!
Fluffy clouds on a clear morning sky after a hard rain
Clouds, combined with a sunrise that looked like the sun rising over the ocean with mountains in the background. It was amazing!
The reflection of the setting sun lighting the clouds in beautiful shades of pink in the fall as the days continue to grow shorter.
Reading these comments has been like a great adventure! I like to watch the clouds morph as a weather front is rapidly changing the view. I also love watching the clouds during a sunset when they change to vibrant colors with ever-changing striations— not unlike Freia yarn bombs!
An elephant!
Most of the time I see cartoon animals
ahhh, easy answer – when I no longer had my dog & cat, after being w/ me so many years, I often saw them in the clouds, & still do on occassion.
A shooting star
My most vivid cloud memories are from childhood. On plane trips, once we broke through the clouds, I would peer down and imagine bouncing and playing in the white fluffiness. Magical!
I’m always looking for the face of God, and I see human faces.
Incredible rows of funnel-like clouds flying over Bermuda. Never saw anything like that.
Here in Oklahoma we don’t see the northern lights but the early morning sunrises and evening sunsets can take your breath away. One morning as the sun rose the most indescribable colors of pink and orange swirled together and lit the clouds. It only lasts a few minutes but it’s spellbinding.
I have seen a shower of meteorites in the Dubai night sky. My husband drove us all into the desert well past midnight.It was cold and dark but well worth the wait !
Golden pink hues at sunrise.
Growing up in the Midwest the thunderstorms were big events! I remember towering clouds, and the lightning in the clouds. One particular day it was at sundew and the clouds were pink.
I love the cumulus clouds. Like pillows and so beautiful.
Used to live in Western NY and would see beautiful sunsets while driving the hills. Clouds, trees, windmills looked like a Studio Ghibli landscape.
Spending a lot of my childhood summer days at the Jersey shore, I loved looking at the beautiful white, fluffy clouds that would roll by.
I was living in Brooklyn on the east river on 9/11. When the planes hit and everything was chaos,I ran down to the water And took pictures. When I looked at the pictures later it look like a big head and mouth of a demon rising above the Smoking mess. It was quite striking in how distinct it looked.
Now I’m living in Maine and I saw a wonderful cloud that looks like a fox running across the road overhead yesterday. And then a little later on a fox did!
I remember laying on the lawn with my kids seeing what shapes we could find in the clouds. A peaceful time.
The Christmas I was six, I saw Santa’s sleigh in the clouds on Christmas Eve. I was pretty sure that Santa wasn’t real and yet, there was the sleigh. It was great to have the magic for another year.
As a child in New England, along with my family, seeing a stack of clouds that looked exactly like a mountain side from our dining room windows.
Mother Nature is awesome!
Miles and miles of fishbones
Streaks of purple get me every time.
Clouds painted with amazing colors if the sunset.
Isn’t fog just a low cloud? I’ll never forget the fog coming in so quickly in Berkeley, CA. It obscured everything, it was so thick.
I used to live in Yokohama, Japan. On clear winter days from higher parts of the city, I could see Mount Fuji. It was often that classic image of the mountain surrounded by clouds. It took my breath away, every time.
Clouds that appear as if they were painted in watercolors.
A “buttermilk sky” at sunset over the Pacific Ocean
My favorites are the big mounds of fog pouring through the Golden Gate and over the surrounding hills. Clouds that envelop us on the ground.
An entire village – structures with different heights and shapes.
I saw a huge barge disappear into stormy clouds at Portland Head Light about 10 years ago. Snapped a pic of the pink purple grey darkness surrounding the lighthouse, still brings my joy to see that pic today.
Driving in big sky country, I love to look out and see the shadows cast on the land by individual clouds. Once there was a mother rabbit and two bunnies.
Sunset into the clouds at Menemsha Beach on Martha’s Vineyard facing due West. Magical.
While looking at clouds on my daily walks, I love seeing jet streams crossing each other- as in “x marks the spot” and I am reassured that I am doing the right thing. Not exactly clouds but…
Kathy
I just love to see the light filter through a have cloud base. I could stare for hours and it subtly shifts.
We call it ‘sky blue pink’ the clouds at sunset, gorgeous!
A cloud with a silver lining.
Reading “It Looked Like Spilled Milk” to toddlers and finding the same pictures outside. So much excitement about the wonders outdoors.
When those light beams come out from behind a cloud and you think “that’s God.”
When I can actually see clouds moving across the sky, or swirling and convoluting.
When I can see where cold air and warm air must be meeting because the clouds are resting on the straightest line I have ever seen.
My Mum in a bit hair balloon!
My “knitting chair” is perfectly positioned next to the huge windows in my “craft palace” so I can watch clouds and knit or stitch simultaneously. I see animals, mountains, quilt patterns, storm clouds, people (favorite formation—an old boyfriend who had a big furry mustache), and the birds flying against the clouds. Cloud time is daily, sometimes for hours, and it’s just the BEST.
My mother’s face.
I saw an Andean Condor floating high in the cliffs in Chile. I had just been told that sightings were rare so I was thrilled.
A year ago I set a goal of climbing Mt Mitchell in NC – highest peak east of the Mississippi…I’m not a hiker, or I wasn’t a year ago. Yesterday when I summited the mountain the cloud formations were my biggest reward – – huge and puffy & it seemed like you could reach out and grab one.
The profile of my mothers face
The green menace of a funnel cloud.
Rays of sunshine radiating through the clouds.
Little tornadoes touching down in west Texas
The peak of Mt. Katahdin, when I’ve just climbed it, and it’s head is literally in the clouds!
Rainbows
It is amazing that so many here have seen lenticular clouds. My grandmother always said they were spaceships over the Antelope Valley. My favorite clouds are clouds at sunset. Nature showing off her watercolor techniques. I wish we all could slow down and watch those brief moments.
I see it every morning and night from the second floor of my house, sometimes bright pink and sometimes black heavy clouds, sometimes green skies. We can have pretty dramatic weather.
A painting a friend of mine did of just clouds.
Looking up at clouds with young children and joining their imagination time!!! We see such amazing things
My head in the clouds! It’s amazing how close the clouds are when one is in the mountains! You can’t literally reach out to touch them but you can see them in The Sangre de Cristo, the Sacramento and the Guadalupe mountain ranges of New Mexico.
For the first time in my life I am living in a valley. The clouds are spectacular. I cannot get over the color and shapes. One day is more beautiful than the last.
The first time Georgia O’Keeffe went up in an airplane, the view of the tops of the clouds inspired a series of large paintings. Went I went to her retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago they had a whole room hung with those painting so that you were in the middle of her beautiful clouds.
I was driving across the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It started to snow (in late August!) and the clouds were a pale sage green. Really!
Flying just above clouds, the swirling reminded me of waves in the ocean, it was mesmerizing!
As a child, with a wild imagination, I always saw a whole alternate world, wishing I were up there walking around in it rather than living my own existence.
The sea
A magnificent dragon emerging from a bank of thunderheads,, with the sun highlighting the curve of his neck and head.
I’ve seen a tornado descend from the clouds. Both frightening and awesome at the same time.
Clouds are remarkable in and of themselves…a daily miracle.
Flying into DFW, another jet flying parallel. Like a race to the runway. Thank you, air traffic controllers!
Huge backlight fluffy clouds that reached to the ground as we drove into Maine on Friday. The end result of a large thunderstorm system that had swept through.
Where I live, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the sunsets over the water are spectacular! The clouds are usually long and wispy around sunset, like a roll of cotton unspooled, the colors are the most delicious deep purples, oranges, pinks and scarlets, which make me want to paint, quilt or knit!!
Flying over the Midwest, viewing lightning in clouds all over the sky below us – awesome!
Cloud formations out of airplane windows.
Color beyond color in almost unbelievable sunsets and a very occasional sunrise.
Blood red clouds on a warm summer night reflecting off the water.
I just love seeing the clouds lit with color at sunset. When they have the oranges and pinks and a little purple, it makes me think of being a child and going to the drive in movies on a perfect night. When I see the sky with clouds like that, I always tell my husband, it’s a drive in night.
Flying above the clouds is truly breathtaking each and every time.
My granddaughter and I saw unicorns and dragons in the clouds while we were on a long road trip this summer.
I never see clouds that look like any kind of object, but I love watching storm clouds roll in!
I saw an angel in the clouds just after my father died. He sent it just for me!
Dragons. We love looking at the clouds and watching them merge from one shape to another.
A small hole opened up in heavy dark rain clouds outside my 3rd grade classroom.
Sun rays shined through that hole and I felt like it was calling me outside and to it.
I didnt go. What a fool I would have looked!
Antelopes chasing each other!
A wall of storm clouds rolling in like a dark cliff that moved.
I remember seeing a cloud that reminded me of a dinosaur in the sky!
Hearts.
An elephant
A huge cloud seen from 30000 ft from an airplane. It was massive and included many lightning blasts. So glad the pilot chose to avoid flying through it
All kinds of creatures
I always love seeing “cotton candy clouds” around sunset, where the whole sky turns pink, light blue, and purple with huge, delicate-looking clouds.
Clouds shaped like a massive triceratops!
Most amazing is seeing clouds “from both sides now”, while flying across country, because the planes always try to fly above them. My husband cedes me the window seat, so I can leave nose smudges on the glass. Storms are very exciting.
When looking at the clouds, I can often see different animals, using my imagination.
Sunrise off the rocky coast of Maine: a low, dark grey blanket of clouds split from the dark grey ocean by a sliver of orange at the horizon.
I love watching the large thunderstorm clouds form. They at times resemble castles.
Mackerel sky! Lovely experience. There was one just last week.
The beautiful pink orange clouds in Alaska as the sun begins to set. It is luminescent and simply takes your breath away. In the fall here in the Sierra Foothills we sometimes see the same colors on the clouds but it’s the first time that takes your breath away leaving you in awe of God’s creations.
Watching rain stream down from a cloud in the distance
We live out in the middle of north central Indiana and can see the weather coming from miles away. Mammatus clouds are my favorite to see in approaching stormy weather.
Several years ago i wanted to learn to fly gliders. You know…the planes with no engine or propeller that must be towed into the sky by another airplane. One day when i was flying with my instructor we caught a thermal and were circling up, up, up when this beautiful golden eagle joined us and flew around and around in our thermal for seveal minutes.
The most magnificent view is when one flies above them. It’s when you can truly appreciate the beauty of this world we all live in. ❤️
The tablecloth on Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa.
I see Angel Lights when the sun beams through a cloud
The clouds in Arizona have such definition! It’s as if they have their own horizon. Absolutely gorgeous and calming to gaze at.
I was privileged to visit a private school in Pennsylvania during the course of my employment. The original painting “The Giant “ by NC Wyatt was displayed in the school cafeteria. Amazing clouds! https://preview.redd.it/ibnboltrami51.jpg?auto=webp&s=38c5595d80fdac8ada333653aa0469d04fa69bf0
Love cloud time! I’ve once seen Vincent Van Goth’s portrait in a group of clouds.
A very clearly defined rabbit
sunsets on the Eastern Shore of Maryland are magnificent and the clouds make the sunsets a work of art with their color palette representing the entire rainbow!
A rainbow coming out of a big, fluffy, white cloud
We get some pretty spectacular sunsets (west of Boston, MA) especially when layered with the clouds which make them dramatic purples, mauves and oranges. I also saw the green flash when I lived in New Zealand, rare thrill.
I always see dogs in the clouds.
Green clouds in advance of a thunderstorm…creepy but also beautiful.
Once I saw sundogs in the winter sky, on either side of the sun. It was amazing. The clouds nearby had rainbows in them.
A beach vacation turns into trying to capture the ever changing colors in the clouds.
Amazing dark clouds with dimples going up, had a picture of them as my screen saver for a long time. Have only seen clouds like that the one time.
Dark storm clouds with a streak of sun breaking through that created a rainbow.
Lions and tigers and bears. Oh My!!
Castle Moonshine with knight.
I love to see a bit blue sky peeking out, just when you thought the clouds were going to last all day!
Saw a gorgeous sunset through stormy rain clouds recently. It was a gorgeous riot of color.
Snow!
Sunset colors fading through the clouds
Not necessarily remarkable in the way of most of these comments, but we found it amusing: perfectly shaped Mickey ears while on a Disney cruise. How’d they do that??
A lion!
When I was a young child I would go stay with my Grandmother who lived on a farm. She would lay a quilt; which she had made, on the ground and we would lay there and look up at the clouds and see all the shapes. I still love looking at the clouds, you just never know what or who will be there.
My son just moved to the Midwest from northern California for university. He’s getting blown away by cloud formations over the lake in Madison, especially at Sunset when they do look like giant flowers reflecting the colors of the sunset.
I saw a birthday cake once!! 🙂
A family of dolphins.
a cloud like a single white feather
I love looking at clouds the most at sunrise and sunset. So beautiful, and full of promise either for the day to start, or for a day to conclude. Red sky at night, and all that….
Beautiful colorful beach sunsets!
Houston TX is so flat with only highway overpasses giving any relief. Thankfully, summer afternoon monsoon clouds gathering in the distance are majestic like mountains and hypnotic as they build. I see entire cities in them
I saw a Flaming Marshmallow over the desert in Arizona during the monsoon season last summer!
Ah, the clouds! They are a visual gift ever day and a reminder of continual shifting and change in all that surrounds us. One of my favorite paintings depicting the spurring of imagination by clouds is The Giant by N.C. Wyeth whose home and studio are located just 3 miles north of my home here in Chester County, PA Try a quick Google search – it’s worth the effort!
Saw lightning in the clouds – at night! Couldn’t take my eyes away.
I see the Greek gods in the wispy clouds.
Hearing an airplane, I looked up and saw it through a cloud. It looked like a shark swimming up above us.
When the sun shines through
Seeing the colour of dawn and sunset reflecting on the bay in front of our house is always amazing . Same water, same sky and each time looks different.
Lovely thought about having “Cloud Time”.
Clouds parting to let a sharp ray of sunshine through – a little reminder in blue moments that God know me and how I’m doing.
Well, UFO’s, of course.
sun beaming down thru clouds
Cities
We have amazing and constantly changing clouds that weave among the islands in front of our house as a storm begins to brew
Just about a month ago, over Lake Michigan, I saw one partial leg of a rainbow descending from the clouds of a clearing thunderstorm. It was the golden hour and the waning light created a rainbow of pinkish orange to orangish pink. Amazing colors. I took a picture that is lovely, but doesn’t do the scene justice.
I love looking at clouds and seeing things, being a fan of Peanuts comics, Snoopy has been my best find in a cloud!
The Northern Lights reflected in wispy clouds over Alaska and once in NY; bronzey, bruise colored clouds spawning tornadoes in KS; dense, grey-white snow clouds that drop the snow so fast and furiously that you feel as though you are in a (very cold!) jar of cotton balls; thin, wispy, ethereal clouds over the mountains that glow with the pinks and oranges of sunset; and dragons, pigs, bunnies, bullet trains floating over the mountains and casting their shadows on the plains. Clouds are always amazing and I will always take the time to pause and appreciate them, even if only for a few seconds.
Clouds with sunlight shinning through.
I see God’s creativity. “The sky proclaims the work of his hands” Psalm 19
A line of rearing horses at sunset on the horizon of the ocean In French Polynesian
Loved your column Hannah. Always found marbling fascinating on book edges, origami paper (a print, yes), and fabric. Clouds: I think of Extraordinary Woo, a 16 episode series from Korea — Woo Young Woo sees whales in clouds. I love them exactly as they are especially pink-tinged at sunset. Then they remind me of walks on the beach n Lake Huron with my mother and the infinite fade into the blue, blue water and sky. They represent the possibility of change or shift to me.
Southwest Sunset in the desert, in the mountains–only great because of the clouds.
Was watching the clouds yesterday as afternoon thunderstorms started to build. I always look for animals!
I’ve seen wall clouds a few times before a storm. They are scary, but also strangely beautiful.
Hi. Just recently we were in Florida I sat for long times on the beach watching the afternoon rain clouds form. I think in that time the most amazing cloud was an alligator. Yes perfectly formed full grown alligator. It was great.
Winter storm clouds rolling over the Olympic mountains into Puget Sound. Such amazing movement!
Just the other day, on my drive home [about 15 miles] I saw an incredibly WIDE rainbow coming out of a cloud formation. Each of the colors was clearly visible, arching down to the ground; this lasted almost the entire drive. I was enthralled, amazed, and reminded of an ancient OZ book: Polychrome in Oz. I need to see if I can track that one down somewhere.
We see dinosaurs- ever since my son was an itty bitty we would lay in the back yard and he would swear the cloud looked like a trex and it continues on today and he is 19.
A cloud rainbow
I love the term “Cloud Time”!! On my recent drive to see my daughter, I saw a cloud that had what looked like a tornado funnel shape but it wasn’t tornado weather, it was a beautiful, bright and sunny day outside and the clouds were gorgeous – just this one huge tornado funnel shape drifting along – like it wouldn’t be noticed lol
My late, much missed Curly. He still rides herd on us from the Heavens.
I was working in my garden in Utah on the Wasatch front. So basically between two mountain ranges. It’s a gorgeous area. A thunder storm was coming and the clouds were trapped right above us. They were black and rolling by. They seemed so low I was sure I could reach up and touch them. The clouds passed over us so quick the rain didn’t fall on us but further south instead. Within minutes the sun was out and we were gardening again with this wonderful moment nature shared with us to ponder.
This morning, sitting in the driftless area of Wisconsin, listening to the rain and watching the low clouds float through valley. I think I see “calm”. Breath taking!
A thunderhead turning into a raging sea, viewed from above on a flight from Idaho over the west desert of Utah… and we the little boat upon the sea
I saw the northern lights once. A long time ago. It was magical
A cloud in the shape of a heart drifted over the church I used to attend during outdoors services, right as the pastor delivered the best part of the sermon.
One afternoon I saw a gigantic diplodocus float by!
I love a window seat on an air plane during a daytime flight so you can see the clouds from the other side. They always look like a big fluffy pile of fleece!
My son — around 4 always said the clouds looked like apple crisp. Sometimes they still do
I look for cartoon figures. Mickey Mouse, etc.
I enjoy seeing different layers of clouds move in different directions and speeds. They make beautiful patterns.
Beautifully colored clouds at sunrise over the ocean.
a sky populated by an armada of small boats with billowing sails…
whales diving
The wonderful thing about clouds is that your imagination creates endless interpretations depending on the day, the mood, perhaps even the need.
Not sure if it’s remarkable, but I love seeing big, dramatic clouds right after a storm has gone through, tinted by a sunset.
Deep pink clouds and sky after my 16 year old grandson died. Felt like he was saying goodby.
I saw my nephew after he died. It was his face laughing!
a sky full of different types of clouds all at once: mackerel, wispy mare’s tails, cumulus, stratus
An alligator with feathers on its head.
Thunderstorms brewing over the Rocky Mountains!
I love the idea of cloud time ! I tend to see a lot of animals and states.
Montana tends toward remarkable clouds
Airplanes
I’ve always thought touching a cloud would feel amazing. Now I think it would just be wet. Still fun to watch though.
Horses, dolphins, magic wands…
In January, as I was leaving my house for a beloved colleague’s funeral, the clouds broke open with a beautiful rainbow ❤️
Rainbows overlaid on the clouds after a thunderstorm with the sun shining through.
Tornados!!!
THE most remarkable thing about clouds is my husband’s brain. For years we’ve been playing “What do you see in the clouds?” It’s remarkable what he comes up with. And when I take a moment, I too see the amazing animals running, playing, eating soup… He’s so good at cloud spotting. And we, in northern New Mexico, surrounded by mountains that bring on the clouds every day, are very lucky, cloudwise.
Clouds floating, coasting, waiting. Just over 20 years ago out over a Michigan lake I saw a very amazing and timely formation of a woman’s upper torso and head formed by clouds. The cloud figure appeared to be pointing to the location we were headed for a ceremony with my mother-in-laws ashes. Was profound.
Blue sky with fluffy white clouds as far as eye could see
I love it when I see an anvil cloud with a huge cauliflower head coming up through it, when you can watch it growing right before your eyes.
Blue sky with a textured blanket of white fluffy clouds as far as the eye can see
The clouds from a plane’s tiny window. They are beautiful.
The most remarkable thing that I ever saw in the clouds was the movement that exists only in the creations of God.
Amazing long feather clouds like pure white feather plumes, just this spring, I took photos and wish I could post one here.
I love watching the clouds of an approaching storm. The really dark grays contrasting with the lighter colors
The first time I saw the Northern Lights, over Lake Roosevelt in Washington State.
I once babysitted somw children who swore they saw captain America in the clouds. I wish I had their imagination!
Sun dogs, random little snippets of rainbows!
Watching rain fall from dark clouds but not reach the ground. It’s called Virga herein New Mexico.
Double rainbow, or 12 red tailed hawks flying in tandem all in the same spot
The black wall of a thunderstorm on the plains.
Besides very high contrast in huge puffy clouds, I love the “sky blue pink” color when the sun is going down.
Beautiful colors
Right after sunset. I love the magical light when the clouds continue to change color.
A rainbow
Ice cream castles in the air
When I left the hospital just moments after my Mom passed, I looked up and saw the most stunning sunset…the kind that take your breath away. I knew then that there was a party going on because Mom was home.
I love to see dark clouds approach. And pass.
I love looking at clouds. Sometimes I see animals or people and sometimes just wonder at what is above them.
Orange clouds near sunset. Beautiful. Nice piece you wrote.
Right after college I was living in Minneapolis when there was a tornado warning…the sky was greenish and the clouds reflected that color. Terrifying and awesome.
The most remarkable thing I’ve seen in the clouds was a circular rainbow underneath the airplane. My most remarkable experience with clouds was flying between the thunderheads on approach to Miami airport.
Watching tornado clouds form across the North Dakota prairie
The day before my husband passed away, I saw an oval opening in the cloud cover where sun rays were pouring through. It was like seeing a glimpse of the next world to where he would would soon be passing.
I saw a dachshund just the other evening!
Fog in the valley below us, with only the tops of trees and silos peeking through.
The dramatic gray clouds of an approaching storm front mesmerized us as we looked north across the Atlantic.
Big cumulus clouds billowing up over the Organ Mountains in southern New Mexico.
A face. The details were stunning
An angel, and a dog riding a surfboard.
I lived in Roanoke, VA during one of the hardest years of my life. One comfort was to sit on the back deck of my little duplex and watch clouds and weather I. General come across a sky so expansive it reminds me of the western mountain states. That sky and weather took me out of myself often enough to keep going.
A unicorn!
I see the very first comment is what I thought of too – the lenticular clouds off Mt Rainier. Ranier is by far the biggest thing around and sticking up in the wind it causes the clouds to form one by one, and then fly off in a line.
Lately, the clouds at sunset are stunning, oranges, pinks, and the sun slowly sinking.
The solace of breathing in the quiet while making art out loud
I found the inspiration for one of my most popular yarn colorways in the evening clouds.
I see joy in the clouds.
The most remarkable is watching my soon-to-be four-year-old granddaughter, Junebug, play and dance in the glassy shallow reaches of the Puget Sound as it reflects the clouds above. She found it Heaven for hours.
After my mother died I was certain I saw her spirit in the clouds.
My dog’s inimitable profile
Sometimes, I find the clouds here in the Pacific NW reflect my own perspective…sometimes light, fluffy, & Bob Ross happy. Sometimes long, slow moving, flat out bored or tired. Whispy, of course, are my favorite. Full of movement with a sense of purpose & a sense of wind at one’s back. These are the best for getting things done like completing that second sock ☺️!
It was fun to watch “dragons” turn into “dogs”
My daughter Vi’s initial. V. She was killed in an auto accident in 2008 and everytime I see a V in the clouds I know she’s up there keeping an eye on me.
I snapped a photo of a large heron-like cloud flying up along the Mississippi River.
There have been days when the clouds are low and I can see the middle portion of the Sears Tower* covered by clouds. The top of the tower is clear, the bottom is clear, but the middle is in the clouds.
*(life-long Chicagoan here, it will always be the Sears Tower, none of this ‘Willis Tower’ nonsense)
Rainbows!
One night, with a storm threatening, I went outside and looked straight up to find rotating gray clouds. Looked like it should have been spawning a tornado, but luckily it didn’t!
Sunsets anywhere. And flying above the clouds
happiness — I love clouds
A rabbit
Majesty, peace, infinity.
I search the sky for clouds each morning. In those clouds are the early messages of what weather is coming our way. This morning not a cloud, no smoke from forest fires and gentle breezes. Today is and will be a beautiful, blessed day.
Monsoon season in AZ as the day starts cloudless, then builds to layers and layers of interesting formations, lightning, thunder and rainbows.
Marshmallows
We love finding pictures in the clouds. Once I found a double rainbow during an incredibly difficult time.
Just came home from a week’s vacation on Maui and the sunset through the clouds each evening was spectacular.
Not sure if this qualifies, since it was more “sky” than “clouds,” but I once saw an eagle chasing a smaller bird all over the vista until the smaller bird dropped the fish it had been carrying. The eagle abandoned the chase, caught the falling fish midair, and flew away with the little bird’s meal.
When I was little I thought angles lived on the tops of clouds. So I was amazed to see the cloud tops the first time I flew at the age of 15. I still love that topside view of clouds
sunsets thru clouds
Sun showers or flurries – when the sun is shining but it’s raining or snowing. The sun on the clouds and rain/snow are amazing!
I like clouds with virga – rain falling from the cloud bottom but evaporating before it hits the ground. If the sun is low you get lots of little rainbows. And the clouds look like they are melting.
One of the most remarkable things about living in Alberta (Canada) is the big sky. It seems higher, bluer, brighter, than anywhere else I’ve lived. On a bright clear day – and not just in winter – you can see blue sky with beautiful clouds making ther way from west to east, which is the way the wind usually blows here. The clouds change shape and if you lie on your back and look straight up into the blue vastness you can watch them change and form faces, animals, mountains and many other remarkable things things on their journey. I never tire of watching them.
Underlit lenticular clouds over a mountain (Mt. Rainier in WA State). The light beneath was extraordinary.
My favorite was a spectacular sunrise in Laramie WY while I was waiting to board a small plane to Denver. The turquoise, gold, and rosy hues were more brilliant than anything I’ve seen before or since! It was pure magic.
Clouds: enormous sculpture for our viewing delight that change and renew constantly.
Any cloud in the state of Texas. Texas gets a lot of things wrong, but it does get clouds right.
The light passing down over them through a hole. Bringing each tier of them into stark relief. Making them look surreal. Almost like they’d been outlined and shadowed by hand.
I once saw the exact outline of the country of Senegal — while I was in Senegal!
Any cloud in the state of Texas. Texas gets a lot of things wrong, but they do get clouds right.
I love finding hearts in the clouds!
Being above the clouds makes airplane rides worth it!
I love the whipped cream aspect of clouds. I guess I see with my stomach.
The coolest clouds I’ve seen were in January in Inuvik, NWT, Canada. The sun hovered just under the horizon, not rising that day and the sky was purple with thin clouds reflecting the colours, purple, orange, yellow. The coolest thing I’ve seen in the clouds was my grandfather’s face, the summer after he died.
I love looking at clouds. Cotton candy, animals, waves are just a few of the things I see in them.
Ive seen elephants, dogs, Lincoln, etc
I love clouds and watch them all the time. My favorite is when beams of sun strike through the clouds. Just a couple of weeks ago I was up in Vermont with friends and we saw the most magnificent sunset coloring huge piles of clouds over the mountains.
As told by my mother, when I was about 3, I ran inside & excitedly wanted her to come outside to look!
I was pointing up as there was one tiny, white, puffy cloud that was moving across a completely clear Arizona blue winter sky.
She laughed & explained that it was a cloud. I’m thinking now so many years later, that to a child that must have been like a piece of wizardry.
In the 1950s, blue skies out West seemed more prevalent …. Now they are crisscross with con-trails caused by the 100s of airlines that fly across the USA.
Living in the Rockies, air flows occasionally create lenticular clouds over a mountain 3 miles from my home. The formation hovers nearly all day long and looks like a mother ship.
The most magnificent clouds are those that form as part of the Arizona monsoon season.
On a very low day in my life, a full rainbow.
Currently seeing a bearded man float by- this summer has been a beautiful cloud explosion of colors-pink,orange, greys,whites & blues w all sorts of shapes
The wild stripe-y clouds as the sun rises over Ghost Ranch in NM always thrill me.
I’m a meteorologist, so looking at clouds is sort of a professional pastime. Probably the most remarkable thing I’ve seen is a small tornado spin up along the leading edge of a thunderstorm coming off the Black Hills in western South Dakota. It was short-lived—maybe lasting at most a few minutes—but beautiful!
I was flying from Washington DC to Denver and there were storms. We climbed to a higher altitude and the was a rainbow in the clouds right outside my window. I did manage to get a picture which I look at when I need to take a stress break!
As a kid I loved watching clouds during long trips and seeing whole stories play out as the clouds morphed from dragons to cartoon characters to faces and on and on.
The eye of Hurricane Alicia years ago as the center passed right over our neighborhood. The calm in the storm was quiet, eerie, and frightening, all at the same time, and the sky and clouds were an odd grey-green color.
Driving home one day I saw a dragon in the clouds. It was magical.
marshmallows, emotions, animals, fantasies, structures, faces, horse tails
Oh my gosh – cloud formations are amazing! I’ve seen a bit of everything, but even when it’s not a specific or nameable shape, they’re often worthy of photography!
Lightning in storm clouds under the plane flying home from vacation.
Kelvin-Helmholtz waves! Clouds that look like ocean waves drawn by children.
I often see hearts beating in the clouds!
Mountain ranges!
I never remember what I’ve seen in clouds – but it’s so relaxing to do so. Mostly now I enjoy the colors that clouds add to the sunsets I see out my kitchen window,
While waiting for my husband to finish up at “the shop”, I watched the cloud over me swirling like a rolling log. A tornado came down about a mile from where we were and stayed on the ground for 10 miles.
I love the clouds that are called a mackerel sky. I had a Cornish Rex cat whose coat looked like the old marcel permanent wave and those clouds reminded me of him and his wavy coat.
Most recently? The huge puffy white clouds in the beautiful blue sky seen from a Norwegian ferry north of the arctic circle.
A very close lightning storm in the clouds while flying in a big commercial airplane. Not scary at all, just a moment of awe.
Sunrise or sunset caught in the clouds
Staring at the clouds with grandchildren
I’ve seen tornados twice. And I live in Pennsylvania!
I love the endless feathers you sometimes see….
I just love the fluffy clouds that look like cotton balls.
I really don’t see things in the clouds.
the inspiration for a colorwork sweater (currently on my needles)
Picked up one day and saw a beautiful rainbow in a funny serrated cloud. Looked it up on the internet and saw it was a thing and had lots of other pictures similar but it was the first time I ever seen that. It was beautiful.
Recently driving to the airport for our first vacation in 3 years, I saw clouds shaped like planes every time I looked. This week I saw a cloud tiger rising on its back legs to pounce while a dragon cloud looked on.
A rainbow shooting down to the ocean from a pink thundercloud.
After our beloved Collie Cocoa passed away at age 13 with bladder cancer I was so terribly sad I thought I’d never get over it. One day while sitting on our back deck missing him I looked up at the sky and saw a cloud shaped just like him. I just kept looking at it and thought maybe Cocoa was saying “I’m still here with you. Please don’t be so sad.”
Being high on a mountain at my favorite spot in Big Sur looking down at the clouds below. A whole new perspective.
Recently, an anvil.
I see paintings from God’s hand that are just for me…promises of hope.
The beautiful variety of colors at sunset.
I don’t have enough imagination to see faces or animals in the clouds. Or is it patience? Once I did see a Nike Swoosh cloud while on a hike in the North Cascades.
I saw a flock of sandhill cranes flying overhead. Of course I heard them before I saw them. That’s my kind of cloud viewing.
A dragon. It actually looked like one of those dragon puppets in a Chinese New Year parade with the tail trailing behind it.
Whipped cream on top of ice cream!
The most remarkable? That’s hard to say, but most recently I saw a circus elephant. And what was remarkable was that my husband saw it too!
The gorgeously metallic lining of a hidden sunrise or sunset.
Love flying through clouds and seeing the world through different lenses. Looks like floating on a marshmallow.
A cloud that looked just like a flying saucer, or was it a flying saucer that looked like a cloud?
The clouds at sunset in the horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. How the colors changed as the sun disappeared from view!! So so beautiful.
The bay side of cape cod is one of the few east coast sunsets over the ocean. I especially love when the sunset colors reflect into the clouds ❤️
When we were kids my sister and I once saw the Wicked Witch of the West coming after us…These days I more often enjoy the cloud time you speak of.
Flying into Nepal from India when l was a teen, seeing the Himalayas popping out of the clouds. An unforgettable memory.
The extraordinary lightning shows during storms in Tucson, Arizona.
Sitting in the window seat on a flight, reading ‘Into Thin Air’ about mountain climbing above the clouds that I knew I’d never do, I looked out on the clouds below us and found courage to leave a good but stressful job.
Seeing an autumn storm come rolling in is very impressive and beautiful.
Fun fact; beams of sunlight shining through a cloud is the only time you will see a straight line in nature!
In the OuterBanks, it is fascinating to view waterspouts over both the Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. National Geographic has my favorite definition of a water spout being “a column of rotating, cloud-filled wind descending from a cumulus cloud to an ocean or a lake.” They often occur in multiples.
The sunset – always so much more spectacular when there are clouds in the sky.
I see animals moving. After they are there for awhile they disappear. I love seeing this. It is how life is to me. Beauty to be enjoyed that shifts and then more comes. (sometimes even the dark clouds have lovely shapes.)
A dinosaur wearing a knitted hat!
When I was a child on a plane, I looked out the window and swear I saw a city in the clouds.
Rays of light behind the cloud — a cloudburst/sunburst
Those cumulus clouds I have seen over Colorado that look like a blanket of cotton balls—or nupps and bobbles.
The massive telltale anvil shape right before a tornado moved through the area before me outside of Oklahoma City!
From a plane window I’m amazed at what looks like a vast arctic field of snow
On my first or second trip to Scotland, I was mesmerized by the clouds. The color of them, the color of the sky. It looked like whole worlds were in those clouds. Worlds we couldn’t see but a glimmer of. They were so beautiful, and I took many, many photos, but alas, the photos did not express the magic I felt under those northern skies.
We were just cloud watching the other day! We saw what looked like a crocodile with his jaws ready to snip snap another set of clouds. My children are grown and I still love watching clouds!
Massive thunderhead clouds piled up in the Midwest. So beautiful, but you knew you were going to have a wild next few hours…
Clouds so dark, just before a storm, it was like evening rather than midday
Best memory is when as a kid, I saw sunshine streaming through the clouds just like the Sunday School cards I got to bring home. Before that I thought it was the effect I later learned as ‘artistic license’! Jut lovely though
I’m always able to find a face, an animal, something remarkable in a sky full of clouds.
When we were kids, my cousin and I used to lay on our backs and watch the clouds. We probably saw every animal we knew!
Looking at the clouds I sometimes can see faces in them.
A running dog. Fun but nothing super extraordinary. I do enjoy seeing lenticular clouds in the desert. Always beautiful.
On my first plane trip and every one since, I am fascinated by flying above the clouds and looking down on the tops. It is especially nice to see the sun streaming through them.
Clouds are amazing, and I marvel at them every day!
An incredible storm cloud that was a perfect wave about to break upon us. I took a photo and still marvel at it.
I just get excited when I find something recognizable in the clouds. But, you have to look quick or the clouds will change shape and it will disappear.
While riding with my husband in our car that had a sun roof, I leaned my seat back and was watching clouds. Suddenly I was treated with the most beautiful circular rainbow around the sun. My dh said they were called sun dogs. While I love dogs, I think that is a mundane name for such a beautiful sight. Lets think up a new name.
In Holland, on a hot August day, what looked like a billowing cliff of impending doom in the sky approached us and eventually dumped buckets of rain and blasts of wind. Very dramatic but we survived.
I always seem to see dragons or mermaids
A giraffe.
The clouds at sunrise looking like the entire sky was on fire .
Most recently, literally, Old Man of Skorr as we traveled across the Isle of Skye!
I saw a fire rainbow in the clouds, on my birthday last year!
I saw a fire rainbow on my birthday!
Oh no! Didn’t realize I double commented. Please delete this one!
Lightning bolts under an absolutely straight, black line of clouds
In the sunrise clouds of Burning Man in 2019 I saw a temple. Below the clouds was The Temple on the Playa. I will never forget dancing at dawn under that cloud.
I see so many things in clouds, but the best part is that. If I wait a moment, I’ll see something else completely different.
Every October we go to Cambria, California and relax by the ocean. I just sit and watch the sky. Of course sunsets are spectacular, maybe more so because I am breathing cool/oceany/scented air that has just traveled over the Pacific. That is when I feel my most pacific too.
Thanks for my introduction to Teresa Hayes! I just ordered two bags of silk scraps to play with!
like most people, i’ve seen rabbits and bears and even a top hat but my favorite thing is to imagine the clouds being whipped cream and me with a giant spoon!
My family knows I am always seeing poodles and teddy bears and faces in the clouds. Recently my husband has joined in the game! As we were driving home across Illinois from a vacation, I saw a beautiful angel or fairy across the St. Louis riverfront. That one has stayed with me!
The clouds in the sunset over Mt Edgecomb
I’ve often imagined myself riding on those clouds which are especially thick and fluffy, kind of like magic carpets. What a way to travel!
UFOs seemingly near Mt St Helens in Washington state! I knew I was looking at lenticular clouds and I could completely understand where “flying saucers ” came from
Driving home during a recent winter storm blowing in off the sea and watching a streak of horizontal lightning light up a massive cloud bank behind it – beautiful and terrifying all at once.
I love just the abstract shape of clouds although I regularly seems to find dinosaurs lurking there. beautiful artwork. I will be claiming some cloud time this week!
I love that idea. I am going to adopt it for myself when I am around others and am not wanting to speak with others. Or in a bad mood. etc. I have done some marbling on fabric many years ago now, I think I need to revisit that….
The best and most riveting thing i’ve seen in clouds is sheet lightening moving through cumulus storm clouds in the high desert near Rock Springs, WY. They were often the clouds that would also produce rain that evaporated before it hit the ground (a virga). We would watch them come up the valley from our 3rd floor dorm room, cold beers in hand .
I see animals but mostly it reminds me to look toward heaven.
Denali. This morning it wore clouds like it had wrapped itself up in a shawl and it was breathtaking.
We were in CO and a mountain area and looked up to see clouds shaped like flat discs. They were amazing, something I’d never seen before. After looking them up, we found they were lenticular clouds. Look them up and see for yourself. AMAZING
Seeing a full arc of a rainbow in some very dark clouds, the darkness seemed to give the colors even more depth. Amazing!
I saw a sheep in the sky on our way back to Lake Wenatchee a couple of days ago!
Camelback cloud figure right before camelback mountain came into view…weirdly cool
I usually see animals. But fish are a big hit in my mind.
The ominous and exciting blue/black clouds rolling in with a blue norther in central Texas. One of the few things I miss about Texas since leaving.
Thunderstorms coming from the mainland towards the small island I was working on…it’s pretty much impossible to describe but it was amazing to see the contrast between the perfectly calm weather we were experiencing on the island and the impending storm, and to get a sense of how huge a weather system can be.
The most beautiful thing I’ve seen is the sun coming through as it set on Lake Erie. So peaceful and soothing!
Clouds! aren’t they wonderful hanging above us, happy or sad, I see moods in the clouds.
Lightning
Purple clouds as the sun set in Hawaii
Last week in Pittsburgh, anyone lucky enough to be outside at sunset was treated to a spectacular show of dark purple and pink anticrepuscular rays across a stormy sky – most definitely among the best cloud shows I’d ever seen!
The road… to my immense relief. Driving in the clouds is not for the faint of heart!
When I was a kid, I would see lakes and trees in the clouds and daydream an alternate life living on the lake.
Alligator
I’ve seen dragons- lots of dragons.
It’s the colors more than the shapes that get me every time: At dusk, the clouds glow from a bright, light ivory to a just-touched blush to an almost-electric pink, darkening to dusky rose; the sky is a contented deep blue. Those are what I think of.
Looking out the front window of the bus and seeing a tornado over the park only one block from our home. We turned the corner and there was my Mom gardening. I told her what I’d seen and we went in the house. The tornado did not touch down for another mile, near where the Middle School was. This was Apri 1957 in Dallas.
The most amazing thing has to be the reflection rays coming off the shadow of the mountain… I know that’s clear as milk. I think it’s called antecrepuscular rays.
I miss the SoCal sunsets especially the every so often Green Flash.
Wall clouds. Scary and thrilling at the same time.
I love flying through clouds; I always find myself humming “Both Sides Now”! Particularly at sunset or sunrise.
I see the most beautiful shades of pink in the clouds at sunset amongst the pines in my backyard almost every evening.
I find clouds calming and yet they stir my imagination, ever changing.
Very dark with violent lightning. Next thing I hear is an explosion and our tree is fried
Lightening coming from the clouds
Three weeks ago, on a beautiful blue day without a trace of rain, we saw a very bright upside down rainbow high overhead, like it was smiling at all of us down below. Turns out this is called a “circumzenithal arc” – google it, they are beautiful!
As unbelievable as it may seem, I don’t have an answer. Far too many years of city living, I suppose.
I love seeing the textures created by the wind and the colors of the sunsets reflected.
A chariot.
I love watching lightning.
My most remarkable clouds were clouds that just weren’t there. On our trip to Denali we saw the peak of Denali all three times it could have been visible. Only about 30% of people see Denali clearly while visiting. My cousin has been to Alaska three times and has never seen it so I’m counting myself very lucky to have had the clouds drift elsewhere that day.
Rays of light breaking through. Piercing light in a dark dark day.
The rays of the sun poking through clouds.
The best clouds are the ones reflected onto the surface of a completely glassy lake…
A funnel cloud. Terrifying. But definitely remarkable!
love watching clouds drift by ever so slowly or at a faster pace , changing shapes, dimension and color. Change is the only constant
Rainbows emerging from clouds–the sight never loses its magic
The Texas sky is the biggest I’ve ever seen: Floating islands of clouds in a vast sea above my head.
On a windy day, I saw an image that looked like the head of a Greek god blowing to make wind. It was very fun and left me imagining all sorts of wonderful stories.
I usually paddle in the evenings so the clouds can reflect in the still water. So paddleclouds!
Well now that there are almost 500 comments I guess I will add one more. I love to find whole landscapes in the sky. With a little imagination I can see a whole other world. It is always peaceful and tranquil and I want to step right into it. Knowing it is there is enough to give me some of that peace.
I don’t seem to remember all the shapes I enjoy finding in clouds, but I do love seeing one small cloud hanging around in an otherwise clear sky. It feels like the cloud wants to make new friends (birds? kites? who knows!) instead of hanging out with the rest of its cloud buddies.
I see rabbits in the clouds. They must hop through the sky from cloud to cloud, ready for me to look up.
You know those illusion drawings in which it could be one thing or another depending on how you look? I’m like that with clouds – it’s a rabbit, no, a lady with a hat, no, no, silly, it’s a man on horseback.
Windy days with low clouds scuttling across the sky are best for the constantly evolving pictures.
I haven’t had enough Cloud Time lately to notice, sadly, but was out near the shore of Lake Michigan on Saturday morning for yoga, and did marvel at how quickly the clouds were scooting across the sky (before I lost my balance and landed on my ass from warrior 2). 🙂
While crossing the Atlantic on our trawler I watched the sunrise’s refracted rays shining through the clouds and it was an unbelievable show!
Lightning. Also, being in an airplane in the clouds.
The clouds are amazing… but I also like to look through the clouds and think about the constant peacefulness of the sky beyond them, so unconcerned about what happens here on the ground.
Love the clouds.The best thing was flying above big fluffy ones this summer on vacation.
One of the most interesting things I’ve seen in the clouds was a flattish ovoid rainbow. So cool
Giant anvils as precursor to brilliant thunderstorms, oh the anticipation !!!
Hearts.
I have moved to a very cloudy place. We have steaming rivers and roofs when the occasional sun peeks in. We have glacial columns in autumn when the temperature hovers around freezing— raining here, snowing there. We have spruces surprising crisp through the grey. We have big, dramatic clouds that don’t amount to much.
skirting a thunderstorm in a plane – the light show from above was amazing!
Recently, while flying through a storm, I looked out the window at the layers of clouds with lots of space in between. It seemed like I was looking into the ocean.
I love clouds. One of my great disappointments in light is that clouds are not what they appear and one cannot hike through the clouds: climbing, jumping, diving and landing in pillowy softness. The most amazing thing are the big cumulonimbus clouds, but I also love the high “mare’s tail” clouds, and the little puff balls that float above the prairies in my home states of SD and MN.
Under certain conditions, in late afternoons, “Sun dogs” form, east and west of the Sun. And sometimes also North and South. And sometimes a full halo appears! I love watching for conditions that might lead to this phenomenon!
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Dragons! A favorite game I play with my young granddaughters.
496 comments!! WOWser!!!
A woman in a gauzy nightgown, spread out on a pillow, arm flung up into the sky.
The most remarkable thing in the clouds sometimes is the sun peeking through. The joy of a cloud lit from the inside or glowing at the edges is one of the great joys in life. The promise of “don’t worry. This cloud is temporary”.
Driving through Texas on a bright Sunday morning with bright patches of white fluffy blooming Texas hedges and beautiful pockets of clouds above. Gods country.
Clouds and a pink sunrise are my favorite.
Love staring at those piled up fluffy cumulo-nimbus clouds! Especially when sunshine is darting around them and making dramatic effects.
Also love the term “Cloud Time” – my Mom used to call it ‘wool gathering’. ; )
Beautiful variegated clouds at sunset.
I once saw what looked like a face smiling down at me, it was comforting.
Oh my – I have seen a lot of great clouds growing up on the prairie in northern Montana. The most frightening clouds I have ever seen are the giant black clouds that turn the sky green before a tornado.
The clouds during sunsets when I lived in SLC were always the most breathtaking colors.
My daughter saw her imaginary kitty friend riding his motorcycle with two friends in sidecars on either side
Lots of animals.. especially dogs and bunnies!
We have a great view of the sunset from our kitchen table. I never get tired of watching the sunset colors cycle through the clouds.
It’s not what I saw but what I felt from above. One day last summer I was laying on the ground in my backyard, enjoying the skies. A beautiful sunny day without a cloud in sight. Suddenly I felt a light rain, tiny sprinkles on my face. I started laughing in joy & wonder: there were NO CLOUDS above me! Just a passing personal shower. It was remarkable!
I saw a cloud that looked just like a duck (think Donald Duck) – my kids were amazed and asked me to do it again. They don’t believe me now when I tell them they said that. MANY years ago!
I love when the clouds look like they are frothing and boiling, as if something important is on their minds…
I always see faces and animals in the clouds, and I love just getting lost in time looking at them.
I love a good sunset over our vineyard with clouds that look like they are on fire as the colors change from soft pink to flaming red to brilliant gold and then go dark and are gone.
I like to tell my husband what I see in the clouds such as an alligator or a whale and he will squint his eyes upward and say “ yeah, I’m not seeing it”.
Most memorable is a cloud dragon
Dinosaurs are my cave cloud sighting.
Here in the Sierra Nevada foothills, we have recently had big thunderheads building up over the high country, and one day they formed some very interesting faces – not angry faces like someone else has described, but more like the heads of mythical Roman heroes or giant guardians in the sky. (I wish they were rain gods bringing us some much needed moisture!)
But the most unusual clouds I have seen were wisps that looked just like giant smoke rings, created by an unknown being that had already left the scene. Lots of puffy rings, scattered across the sky. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. And what a wonderful prize – Freia for a cloud-like honeycomb scarf – I love it!!
I don’t see things in the clouds but love the moods they provide. The light bright white ones are happy day, the low grey “it’s going to snow” is exciting in early winter and my favorite bright blue skies with barely a speck of cloud right after that early winter snow.
Storm clouds mixing with the sun. Too beautiful for words.
When my son was very young and the rays of light would be coming down through the clouds, I would point and say “God’s light”, He’s 34 now and when we’re together one of us still points when we see that and repeat those words.
Aside from that, a friend was out east and sent a photo of her and her daughter at the beach. Above their heads was a cloud that looked exactly like a spouting whale!
I was at Myrtle Beach, one of my favorite places to cloud gaze, and looked up to see the A-10 fighters returning from Desert Storm. Two by two, in perfect formation, they returned, except for the last one. One didn’t make it. I want to thank everyone involved for their service and Godspeed to those still deployed.
I have always loved cloudscapes. Clouds fire my imagination, take me out of myself and yes, predict the weather!
After watching seasons of “Landscape Artist of the Year”, I now see look at large cloudscapes and wonder how various landscape painters might capture the moment.
Just recently on a trip back from town (Grand Rapids, MN) we were watching the approach of the next line of thunder storm clouds…. the wall of rolling gigantic cloud formations made us both think of of Moses parting the Red Sea… it was awe inspiring …
Usually all sorts of creative animals! But if you haven’t seen Netflix ‘Extraordinary Attorney Wu’, you are missing a treat! And she sees myriads of whales and dolphins!
I am looking at fast moving clouds over Lake MI
I see changing shapes and faces and always think of Bob Ross “happy little clouds.”
A dragon! I took a picture of it.
Thunderclouds in New Mexico durning monsoon season.
When sun rays break through- it gets me every time. When I was small, I used to say that was God blessing the earth.
The clouds and sun combined turning everything blue for a few minutes…the blue hour, L’Heure Bleue. Stunning.
I see colors – all of the wonderful colors of the world appear and disappear.
Clouds aren’t too dramatic here in SoCal. When I travel I am fascinated by other skyscapes. Constant drama!
Clouds are so inspiring, sometimes very spiritual. I used to send our local tv station’s beautiful cloud photos. Weather man said there’s a “cloud lovers” book called “The Cloud Collector’s Handbook”, Gavin Pretor-Pinney (UK). Naturally I bought it, it’s wonderful. Sometimes I see dragons in the clouds here in BC Canada.
Another vote for lenticular clouds over Mt Rainier
I love cloud gazing. I like anything that looks like wings (bird, angel, dragon). And since clouds are always drifting and rearranging themselves, I like to try to change them (with my superhero cloud manipulating vision) into anything with wings. Sometimes, the clouds don’t look like wings, but the sun shines through them pretty, and I like that too!
I saw gigantic flying geese in the clouds while sailing this summer
Little sparks of lightening, dancing like elves in the forest.
I don’t know if this qualifies as remarkable, but last week we were driving on the causeway to Antelope Island to visit the Great Salt Lake during our Family Wedding/Out West Adventure, and my husband exclaimed, “Look at that chicken!” And I, expecting to see a bit of the advertised wildlife, nearly drove off the road in my effort to avoid running over some friendly cackler before figuring out he was cloud-gazing. The cloud did indeed look like a huge brooding hen, but that did not save him from some choice grumpy words.
When I was a child (in Fargo, ND), there was a devastating tornado which we saw coming. We ran for the basement-our house survived, but the next block was flattened.
Storm clouds are always my most favorite. I wish my dogs weren’t so afraid of thunder.
It was a cloud formation of my poodle. He passed at age 14 yrs this past January.
Made me happy and sad,
Love it when the clouds are an extension of the landscape at sunset, molten islands in a navy blue sea.
A dinosaur, T-rex looking but not quite
When I was a little girl I saw a glimpse of a air balloon, then another, then another, floating through the sky. My mother was driving and we “chased” after them, eventually finding the field where they all landed. We had stumbled on a balloon race that morning.
Three (three!) blue herons flying in formation.
Perfect heart-shaped holes of blue sky, especially when thinking about my grandmother who is my hero (and taught me to knit).
Lenticular clouds! We called them space ship clouds when we were kids.
Wow! It’s been years since I looked up at the clouds for creatures. I need to make time for this before the weather turns.
Watching a faraway lightening storm from a plane.
Rainbows
Rainbows
Clouds BELOW the top of Mount Everest, knowing that people climb above that.
At sunrise in the western a rainbow against the clouds. Gentle prison colors against pink tinted clouds.
I once saw what looked like an island in the afternoon sky. It was beautiful.
Seeing the northern lights over the clouds during a night flight to England was pretty amazing!
I love the huge, puffy clouds against a deep blue late summer sky.
I walked into a cloud during a family vacation in Colorado. It was an altitude thing.
Most remarkable? I saw a lightning storm from my airplane seat! The storm was below us, several miles away. To know that one lightning strike has that much power but, sadly, we’ve yet to harness it for our electricity use.
The scariest thing I’ve seen in clouds are tornados (have lived most of my life in the Midwest). The most breathtaking is the Northern Lights (while on vacation in Canada).
Lying on the grass, looking for animals in the clouds, is such a strong childhood memory. I still love to look at the clouds but find I am not looking for shapes in them, I’m instead appreciating the abstract play of color and texture in the sky….
The most interesting cloud shapes was my daughter’s ideas of animals in the clouds. Often they had extra parts or companions.
Ripples. Amazing ripples.
Cloud to cloud lightning in Florida while visiting friends. So wild!
A zoo’s worth of animals of all kinds.
I see dreams. Here in NM we have fantastic skies which showcase the clouds that are lit up by beautiful sunrises or sun sets.
The ability to make clouds disappear through deep, steady breaths.
So many cloud-induced visions! Just yesterday I saw a bear laying on its back with all four legs stretched to the heavens! I think it was celebrating life…or maybe just getting that much-needed back scratch! Whichever, it was enjoying life!
Blanket of fluffy white clouds looking tantalizingly soft and cozy from an airplane window.
I love seeing clouds at sunset. Just last night I took a photo of a puffy “purpley”rain cloud highlighted in gold. But to be honest it looked like a glam version of the Stay Puft mascot from Ghostbusters!!
Seeing rain in the clouds from a distance.
The best thing i have seen in the clouds is a bright blue sky coming my way in the distance.
We’ve been having double rainbows often – which is such a marvel but mostly I love the changing colors that are spectacular and never the same as the sun sets in the clouds
A South-bound flock of geese in sharp contrast with low slung Fall storm clouds. So evocative.
When I was a little girl my father would take us flying in a 4 seater airplane. Teaching me how to steer he would tell me to head for valleys in the clouds. They were beautiful cotton balls of fluff with their own topography. I loved it.
Clouds that looked like angel wings.
Amazing colors and inspiration.
A double rainbow while at an airport layover.
Color! Lots and lots of color at dawn and sunset. I can never get enough.
I saw my Dad’s face. It was so reassuring.
I just love the colors in clouds.
I saw a formation of perfect “step” clouds once, like 7 or 8 huge shelves of clouds perfectly lined up like equidistant steps taking over half the sky
One of the things I love about living in Florida is all the times I get to see rainbows in the clouds. The best are full double rainbows and I’ve even seen a triple rainbow once.
Living in the middle of mega-drought territory, rain is now the best thing I see in the clouds.
A herd of elephants
A castle. I was about 8 in car on a long sleepy road trip in Florida. Ornate and detailed and I was convinced when I saw it again I would be taken up into heaven/the castle. I still look for it in every cloudy day.
Snoopy on his doghouse
The most remarkable clouds were leaving Boston on a flight with storm clouds coming in, rising through piled high clouds like drying out marshmallows, thick enough to step onto and soft and mushy. I’ve never seen clouds like that before.
sunsets over the water, long wispy clouds tinted in shades of orange, pink and purple
I have seen hikers in the clouds. What a beautiful trip hiking in the sky!
I was once on a late-night flight from LA to NY and saw the most spectacular lightning storm that illuminated the clouds in the most freakishly beautiful way imaginable.
Bunnies and elephants and rainbows, oh my!
Ice cream castles in the air.
When we are at “the lake”, no matter what, we need to be there for sunset. On the best days, the clouds capture the last red/orange rays of the sun and reflect it across the sky so that we sit under an umbrella of blue/grey fringed with fire, west and east! I’d love to find THAT yarn!
In the skies over London, England, the clouds always make feel as though I am in the midst of a majestic painting.
Mashed potatoes (fluffy ones) on a plate
A brewing storm!
Heat lightening in the BWCA that the lake we stayed on mirrored! Humbling!
Heat lightning in afternoon rain storms. It’s beautiful to see it bounce from cloud to cloud, almost like a tennis match
Of course, I always see yarn
I like looking for rainbows after a storm when the sun is shining through the clouds.
Lovely rainbow on top of dark storm clouds
I love to see light reflected in the clouds.
At the top of Mount Pilatus, I looked over the side and saw the shadow of my head encircled by a rainbow in the grey clouds below me. I grabbed my camera and captured one of my most treasured memories.
Beautiful cakes and skeins of yarn.
My most memorable cloud experience was our family vacation to DC when I was in 3rd grade. My mother acted like she had never seen clouds before on that drive. She saw oodles of things and our family photo album reflected her new found interest.
“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all”
My favorite sightings are the faces of animals in the clouds. I’ve seen a few times two animals that looked like they were playing together. It’s quite lovely.
Not sure it’s “interesting” but my favorite cloud scene is a full moon poking in and out of the clouds. Always inspires awe!
My grandsons and I spotted a wooly mammoth while hiking the rocky trails in Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin.
When I moved from Seattle to Maryland, I often mistook the clouds for the mountains I missed. I’m continually fascinated by their beauty and expression.
maybe it’s the Game of Thrones influence, or wishful thinking, but I always see dragons in the clouds
Endless possibility is what I see! Whether it’s a stallion ready to carry me away, or a gentle hill promising skies, or a soccer ball, it’s always magic.
Don’t sleep on Jupiter’s clouds from the Juno spacecraft!!! https://twitter.com/konstructivizm/status/1564603845283659777.
A concert of crazy lightning flashes, while flying into San Antonio! Beautiful.
Clouds embracing the top of our local mountain
I remember flying once, years ago, and it looked like someone had taken a rake to the clouds: long rows of thin parallel lines. A Zen garden for the gods.
We were flying and the sun was setting, shining up through the clouds, making them look like burning embers-black on top, red underneath.
The reflection of the azure sea in the clouds above my favorite Bahamian island can’t be beat.
My bff always sees her brother, who died too young….always a happy moment for her. I see whales as my husband is involved with rescue of whales…magnificent creatures. Our mind creates the images we want to see!
I see texture and density and remarkable light images as a storm builds and makes it’s way north over the Thompson River. So alive!
The most memorable thing I have seen in the clouds are heart shaped clouds to let others know how much they are loved
I find the big, dramatic clouds to be fascinating.
When the sunset is reflected in them!
I love the cumulus clouds we see on the wide open US plains. I’m always seeing bunnies or kitties. Fluffy animals!
Just the other day, I saw an almost black storm cloud superimposed over the purest white cloud ever! The picture I took did it no justice at all, but I will be able to revisit the vision in my head forever!
As I was driving my kiddo to school last week, we both saw an amazing zombie guy — clearly a head with two holes for eyes, and a pretty creepy looking body — rising from a flat cloud and lit by a red sunrise. Given that we enjoy thrillers, we were both quite amused.
dry lightning, no rain, just crazy clouds lit up from the inside.
Puffy clouds low on the horizon, illuminated from above by a full moon. I was so glad I have a modern phone with night sight camera.
The most remarkable thing I saw in the clouds was coming *down* from the clouds – a water spout over the Carribean Sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.
A wildfire sunset
The sun breaking through at sunrise.
The multiple beautiful colors of clouds at sunset remind me of Kaffe’s adventurous blending of colors. Maybe some of his inspiration?
the peace-inducing soft change of colors that remind me of a knit dress I wore decades ago
I’ve seen dog shaped clouds
I love to watch the clouds when I’m at the beach. Fat little dogs, snowmen made of cloud, angry black mountains filled with fire and lightning. Once, when I was very lucky – a peacock at sunset on the Gulf.
At my grandparents’ farm, in the summers, I would lie on the front lawn and stare for hours at the clouds. I remember running in to get my grandmother to come see the whole cast of characters from my favourite book, Wind in the Willows. She rushed out, wiping her hands on her omnipresent apron, and I burst into tears. The clouds had moved….a crystal clear memory of my seventh summer.
Usually animals, sometimes bird’s wings!
Thin slivers of the sun outlining the distinct clouds.
A few years ago, driving along a prairie highway at the beginning rumblings of a spectacular but not damaging or dangerous summer storm, I saw a cloud formation that looked like a vanquished and exhausted soldier from Ancient Greece, seated in the sky with one arm outstretched. Definitely not the repose of victory, but exhaustion in the face of defeat.
The most remarkable thing I’ve seen in the clouds is color. When I see the pinks and grays and purples, I try to envision how the hues would work together to dye fiber for a lovely yarn.
Rainbows
Mare’s tails over RMNP
I go to A Daily Cloud on Instagram for cloud silliness.
Living in NE Ohio I see snow coming for 5 months of the year and all the gloom. Summer days I see favorite pets who’ve passed, friendly animals in the sky…
Guardian Angels in the high wispy clouds.
I saw an ominous cloud whilst driving home recently-a huge mass of dark, swirling gray ahead. Not an inspiration. No images in it, just a looming threat! Luckily the storm waited to start until I arrived at home.
Very dark gray thunderclouds lit by lightning are a common sight in the Midwest summer. So powerful! I also love a thunderstorm in the middle of the night… bright lightning illuminating the bedroom and the loud thunder as well..
“Gulping Beauty.” What Amelia Earhart said about clouds and what I always try to do.
I love it when clouds descend low enough to cover the tops of buildings. Seeing buildings in clouds always makes me think of sci-fi cloud cities.
I saw a great big donut around Mt. Rainier. It was a moonlit night in the predawn hours. I think it was a lenticular cloud. What ever it was it was stunning to see.
When the clouds turn purple at sunset
I see my dreams in the clouds! I love this way of sharing the need for quiet time. Cloud Time. ☁️ ⛅️
The northern lights dancing above the clouds on a night flight from Ireland to NYC that followed the great circle route close to the arctic.
Nothing specific seen in the clouds, but I do enjoy looking at them (especially stormy clouds).
The most incredible thing I’ve seen in the clouds is dragonflies. We have them all over here, and they get huge! Seeing them fly against the bright blue summer sky is so beautiful.
I love clouds and they recently returned to our skies here in Texas after many many days of bright blue sky! I saw a beautiful almost heart shaped hole in a large cloud mass. It made me smile and think of my loved ones who have passed.
The Northern Lights dancing behind the clouds is a pretty spectacular show
The clouds at night lit up with fireworks seen from the ramparts of a castle in Germany.
I spend a lot of time on the clouds and have seen many things there, but my favorite cloud observation wasn’t IN the clouds, but OF the clouds. Mammatus clouds are the best clouds I’ve seen. Have you seen them?
So many things, but I love most when the low light of spring & fall tints big puffy clouds with Maxfield Parrish colors!
I like the clouds over a brilliant sunrise – gorgeous reds-oranges-yellows against a blue-violet sky.
Watching cloud formations is very Zen to me. I see shapes or just meditate to the movement.
Years ago, as I was leaving Monument Valley, I saw George Washington crossing the Delaware.
I kid you not.
Black clouds rolling in as I watch from my window.
Ace of spades, mean sisters said it meant third child would die. She is still alive and well and brings this up to two older sisters when cloud watching. Whales, horses are more cheerful sightings.
My favorite thing since I was small was to lie on my back in the yard and watch the clouds. I’ll be 80 soon and while I do my cloud watching in a lounge chair now, I’m still watching the clouds! So many stories came from cloud watching!
The most awe inspiring sight is watching clouds drifting through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It’s like little fingers feeling their way through the peaks. Reminds me that all things are possible.
I love watching the clouds roll down the mountains near my home. The sunsets are spectacular!
Clouds come with memories of my dear husband who died 2 years ago. Bill loved clouds and would always point out interesting formations. When I go to the beach I look to the clouds and remember the many lovely times when Bill and I were together. Bittersweet at times but mostly a way to return to a good memory.
Shelf clouds.
White cotton candy!
The pink/magenta clouds at sunset.
Mommatas clouds in Montana, and a rainbow. Nature is amazing.
I’m always looking for animals in the clouds. Cloud gazing is different than other sorts of gazing where I seem to always see faces.
I find the changes in color in different clouds as the sun sets incredible, because each cloud changes hues differently.
I love seeing a storm come in or leave with a mackerel sky.
In the clouds or through the clouds? Sheep of course
I am a retired flight flight attendant, and I always loved seeing the earth from the other side of the clouds, up above, no matter where we were flying….Beautiful!
This is so interesting, to have the other perspective so frequently looking down at clouds. I love this mind-shift.
I am a retired flight attendant, and I always loved seeing earth through the clouds, from the other side!
The clouds in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania: two red fox and three little kits.
Always something different and beautiful in the clouds!!
The most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen in the clouds is the rainbows in Hawaii. The dark clouds and bright sunshine with the vivid rainbow
I see faces everywhere…in clouds, tiles, wood. It is wild and entertaining.
different shapes
A small rainbow just hovering in front of a cloudy sky
I can never see anything when I look at clouds but clouds
My husband is such a cloud watching addict, that I’ve become quite the adept at discerning all kinds of creatures and “objets” scuttling across the cloudesphere!
A flying dragon. As the wind blew it across the sky, it breathed fire!
Clouds during monsoon season in AZ
I love all the wonderful colors of clouds at sunset.
A gorgeous sunset turning the clouds brilliant red.
Once I saw a princess in a big ruffly long skirt. Should have taken a picture of it but didn’t.
My friend Julia was driving me into Minneapolis from the country and the sky was full of beautiful piles of clouds. Both of us clearly saw a dragon and said “Look!” at the same time.
Love to see a beautiful ray of sunshine beaming through the clouds
Double rainbows! We lived in San Angelo, TX for 2 years; it was so dry, there were few clouds. I realized how much I had missed them when we moved back to Central Texas.
Dragons and tortoises follow me around in the clouds! I love the pen and ink interpretations of the clouds a companying your essay!!
Just the most beautiful light in layers of clouds seen from a plane window
Watching reflections of thunder clouds racing across the surface of the lake when a storm is coming
I like making cartoon stories about what I see. Once I saw a dinosaur and made up a whole story in my head
Clouds are amazing. Just when you think you’ve seen an image, it’s blown away and you see something else. Clouds are very creative just like knitters.
1. Signed up already. 2. I love when we get “sun dogs,” or little snippets of rainbows that come through or near the clouds.
My own cowl design… I have yet to knit it up but from the moment I looked at a partial skein of yarn, knowing I had a color I could pair with it to make it pop, the idea came to me of what the two wanted to grow up to be. I’ve never properly designed something before, so I’m still playing a little with how to construct it, but I can picture the finished object in my minds eye. I’m definitely looking forward to knitting it up and some point and seeing if it’s just as pretty as I think it will be!
Cotton puff balls
I love looking at the clouds near sunset. The colors are so vibrant.
Not exactly certain of the name of the phenomenon, but the heat lightening at dusk. When bolts of electricity remain inside the clouds. They don’t travel to earth, there is no sound, just a spectacular display.
Animals and faces. I love the way they change.
A giant turtle slowly gliding across the horizon
The most amazing pinks and oranges. New Mexico sunsets are some of the most spectacular.
Camping on a mountain in North Carolina…the clouds came down while we slept and we woke up astonished.
orange whipped cream, in a beautiful sunset over a lovely lake, just last week.
Leaving work in my basement hospital lab one day many years ago, I found the entire sky filled with mammatus clouds; very beautiful, very weird.
The Simpson TV show!
Beautiful sunsets disappearing behind clouds
Gorgeous sunsets with the most beautiful pinks and and oranges.
I see things but they were not as amazing to me as the striking and high contrasted edges and shapes between blue summer sky and white and gray cloud. Difficult to explain. When I see it I have to stop and look again.
Love the cloud photo, then the graphic art overlaid–so cool!
By all that is holy, I saw Baby Yoda (Grogu) in a cloud formation recently.
Earth through the clouds…from an airplane window seat,
After seeing “Nope” all I can think of in the clouds is Jean Jacket!
altocumulus clouds–the little fluffy ones–lit from below by the sunrise
I like flying through clouds. It may be dark and stormy on the ground, but there’s sunshine above.
Love the rainbows that lace their way through the clouds
Sunsets where the clouds are painted pink, gold, and orange, with vivid blue sky peeking between.
I’ve seen peace ❤️
Rays of sun breaking through the clouds though the sun itself was obscured; they fanned out in all directions from the dark grey cloud bank pregnant with rain.
Cloud watching on a field of grass is unbeatable. But cloud watching in a field at night? I’ve seen naval ship battles glowing in the stars.
When I was a young girl I used to lie on my back to look at the clouds and find different shapes and see if they looked like animals, birds, etc.
I think I saw a headless horseman in the clouds the other day.
Castles, kingdoms, dinosaurs
From my balcony in Portland at sunrise, the sky was pale pink, red and orange looked like a field of poppies.
I try to see the animals my daughter can see
I love seeing clouds on the horizon, looking like mountains.
Love looking for animals in cloud shapes
What beautiful drawings! I like looking at the sky a lot and sometimes my little boy, my husband and I play by finding forms in the clouds. Normally, we see waves, but with a lot of imagination, it is posible to see a lot of other things.
Sunrises, sunsets, lightening shows.
The illusion of a great fireball as the sun was setting
An evening sky with towering clouds at sunset turning the view into a Maxfield Parrish painting of golden skies backing a tree lined hiking trail.
I see color inspiration in the clouds at sunrise and sunset. We positioned our house when we built it to be able to sit on the porch and watch the setting sun. I look forward to retirement when I will be able to enjoy that more often.
Dinosaurs!
My grandma, laughing with her infectious giggle. Made my day.
I’ve seen so many cool things in the clouds, but the most amazing was an angel (when I most needed to see it.)
Threads in azure sky saving that perfect blue from being too pristine, too perfect…
Have you ever seen a photo where there are a lot of different colors of clouds, layers upon layers—and then the sun shines through that backdrop? It happens so rarely—it makes me think God is speaking. The day my brother passed away, my sister and I came to the top of a hill by my house close to sunset. The sky was so beautiful, we both gasped.
My favorite clouds are the dark, stormy ones bring in thunderstorms from the west.
Growing up on a farm we spent hours laying on our backs in the lawn searching for hidden shapes in the clouds. It is an idyllic memory.
Don’t think I look for shapes anymore, but still notice the skies and how spectacular the clouds have been of late.
And then of course, there is Joni Mitchell:
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way
Thanks for the meditative poke!
One evening, while walking the dogs, I saw extremely low hanging clouds that had marshmallow- shaped bottoms. They looked like thy had been dipped in grey dye.
My son and I play the cloud game often. Animals and faces are common and recently he saw the shape of the outline of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, a place we love!
A duckie and a kitty and a dog. Of course, I was much younger at the time but it was Very Remarkable.
Rain from the clouds to make the vegetables grow
I remember a flight with my two daughters as we were going to my mother-in-law’s funeral. We spent most of the flight in the midst of the most amazing clouds. My youngest kept looking out the window in search of her grandma.
I saw golden rays coming down from the clouds that made it look like heaven was shining down on us.
Once I saw a cloud in the shape of a doggie face with the tongue hanging out. Love your ‘snippets’ every week. 😉
I saw a “roll cloud” back in February 2018. What a beautiful sight! Thanks to our local NBC affiliate for telling viewers just what the sight was during our morning commute! https://www.nbc12.com.
Sorry the actual link to the story didn’t come over. . just the website. You can search for “roll cloud” (I think) there to see them though.
A lightning strike that emerged from clouds to hit a canyon wall when we were down in the Havasupai reservation in Arizona.
All of the fantastic things dream me will knit!
Animals of various sorts. Nothing too exciting. I actually see more interesting things in mountains/rock scapes.
Hope!
I see glorious beauty in the clouds — from storm clouds to sunsets, the light of the sun plays through them all — which speaks to me of joy.
The feeling of wonder as you watch something move and shift- knowing that nonhuman can control the outcome. It is freeing.
If I look at the clouds long enough, I can always see an animal or face of some sort
An angel..
Stephen West
Popcorn chickenheads
It’s pretty tough to observe clouds around here — so many trees! But I stop and stare when I see an open sky with clouds that looks painted. It doesn’t happen often — clouds have infinite variety and are very hard to get right.
My mother lost her battle with ALS years ago. I still miss her terribly. One day I was lucky enough to see her face in the clouds.
Clouds are always changing I love the animal shapes which seem to frolic in the skies. I also love the colors reflected from the beautiful sunrise or sunset
I love the colors of storm clouds. My absolute favorite is when the sunrise is peeking under the storm as it is rolling in. It’s surreal blending of light and dark. Beautiful.
An amazing lightning storm that lit up the clouds from every direction all at once.
Watching clouds with lightning in them is fascinating. And floating on a river in a kayak is an opportunity to keep an eye on that one cloud that has a shape and is slowly changing or dissolving.
Last week I saw a giant bunny flying across the sky
I love the evening pinks, purples and oranges that light up our Central Valley sky.
Years ago, our boys were young, i saw a water spout probably around Panama City Beach, we were early in our love for Seagrove Beach, FL.
I love the looks of clouds in lightening storms.
A full double rainbow while walking in the beach!!
Once I saw the Millennium Falcon…
Miles and miles of a low cirrus deck that looks like a washboard. Also an anvil shape right before a tornado.
It’s usually an animal but once it looked like a dragon, which was cool.
Hmm, I don’t think I’ve seen amazing things. More along the lines of bunnies and ships. I should look at them more often and enjoy their beauty.
A cloud that looked like the volcanic mountains in the Northwest, pointy top and all.
A dog wearing a party hat.
I love to look at clouds when I’m flying… the tops of them are so interesting & magical.
I usually see animals or faces in the clouds when looking with my three children.
Flying above the clouds after a long RAINY fall in SE Alaska and witnessing the beautiful colors of the Aurora Borealis shift and change, flicker and flow – reminds me of the colors in a Freia ball of yarn. Beautiful.
The dragons always slay me, but they make the caves make more sense.
I was working on outdoor theatre in eastern Kentucky as a teen. We knew a storm was coming and rushed to move everything inside. I watched the clouds literally roll over themselves like the nothing from the never ending story. Lightening flashed, the clouds burst, and the water rushed down into the valley, flooding the theatre tucked into the hillside. The first five rows were a swimming pool. The clouds looked like something from a nightmare.
This summer my family and I were driving through King’s Canyon and we noticed these beautiful rainbow colors in the clouds. They almost looked liked the rainbows you see in the soap bubbles. I think the phenomenon is called cloud iridescence or irisation, and it’s pretty rare. There weren’t many clouds so the the rainbow colors in these white fluffy clouds on a bright blue sky really added something special to an already spectacular drive.
A triple rainbow between the clouds over Red Rocks in Colorado.
I’ve been waiting for fall to start another scarf
Beautiful blue sky with bright yellow and white cloud shaped like a horse. Once in a lifetime.
Over Bakersfield we came across a “flying saucer” cloud.
A phenomenon called a “glory”, a sort of circular rainbow.
I remember as a kid we would fly in a small private plane for my dad’s business to where my grandmother and great grandmother lived. We were grounded along to way and had to drive in the mountains the rest of the way. I looked out our window of the car and the clouds were belong us! It was an amazing site, as if we were driving in the sky!
Answering on behalf of an adorable child on a commercial plane who spent an entire flight above the clouds peering out the window desperately “looking for Mighty Mouse”
Camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains as a child, we watched a thunderstorm roll into the valley below us. Seeing the lightening dance through the clouds from our vantage point above the clouds was mesmerizing.
Oh wow I’m in love with Hannah’s sketching style.
And I once saw a large fish when I was a small child.
I see shapes and faces in the clouds.
I love seeing animals in the clouds!!
It’s always remarkable to see lightning coming down from a cloud. Nature is amazing!
When God’s Glory is shining through the clouds. I always say “God is peeking”.
The most remarkable thing I’ve seen in the clouds was a lightning storm above and within them, a beautiful Midwest storm.
The reflected sunlight, so bright, contrasting with all the shades of gray. This happens late in the day.
Um…. a rabbit? Haha
Flying through clouds when my husband first became a pilot
I used to rent a cottage at the beach and invite my extended family. They were times of laughter and good food, but sometimes I would escape and just lie down on the grass flat on my back. As an adult that feels amazing and a bit self-indulgent. I would stare at the sky – clouds or stars, depending on the time of day – and would feel like I might just fall off the planet. It gave me a sense of my place in a vast universe: small, but my problems became small too.
Seeing clouds (and what they looked like) through the eyes of my children when they were young was the best.
It’s amazing that this is the topic today. I was walking my dog yesterday, looked up at the clouds and thought about how as children, before internet and “video babysitting”, we would just lay in the grass and look at the clouds to see what we “saw” in them. Two days ago I saw a rainbow which is always fun, so that’s the answer to today’s question. I hope parents get back to simpler times, it was always so fun to sit with my sister and watch the clouds and enjoy the time chatting.
Rabbits
Watching changing pictures in the clouds gives my imagination an excellent workout!
Dry heat lightening over the southwest coast of Florida. The skittering streaks danced through the thunderheads, lighting the clouds from behind in pinks, oranges and purples. Fantastic!!
I see inspiration in the clouds – to be a better me.
Once I saw my dear golden retriever Dakota in the clouds, all fluffy and beautiful.
I find animals and faces in clouds. And sometimes it looks like God is reaching down through the clouds when there’s a special kitchen of light.
The wonderful colors streaking thru the clouds is my favorite.
An angel
Dragons!
Faces, so many faces
My dogs that went over the rainbow
I love seeing light shine down through a hole in the clouds. It’s so… Biblical.
Wisps and whispers
I once saw an angel in the clouds with majestic spread wings – and it happened near sunset so that just added a spectacular glow to it that was awe-inspiring.
I always see dragons soaring through the clouds
One summer evening we were sitting on our deck enjoying the sounds of the cicadas and tree frogs all while admiring the clouds that looked almost cartoonish. They were perfectly white and fluffy, but scattered just so in the sky. Suddenly we heard “whooooooooooooosh” and then a hot air balloon skimmed the roof of our house and landed in the neighbor’s yard. Everything that evening felt surreal and staged, right down to the sunset behind the landing balloon.
My favourite are the clouds at sunset when they turn purples and pinks and oranges and corals. And always impossible to capture the true beauty on camera.
Beauty
I love watching the clouds while out in our huge vegetable garden. I am always amazed when I see giant thunderheads that have somehow dissipate after a few hours of work. How do these monster clouds dissipate so quickly??
A tornado being born.
The clouds in my new home of New Mexico are complete stories. The sky so vast.
I see so much in the clouds. I especially love watching beautiful sunsets when the evening light is reflected in gorgeous transforming shades of colors on the clouds. It is art in the sky!
While walking one day my husband and I saw a rainbow in a cloud, just there nowhere else. It was beautiful and amazing.
Clouds are forever! It always amazes me to see dark storms clouds coming on the west wind while looking to the east there is a bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds…
Rain! Rain! Rain! Please!
The most remarkable thing is that clouds continually change. My husband and I make an almost–daily game of calling out what we see in the clouds. Love the concept of “Cloud Time” when in the studio.
I look more for the way light plays in and around the clouds than for the shapes of them, but my mother is a master at always seeing the shape of Martha’s Vineyard, her favorite place!
Really really dark clouds that looked like the bottom of an egg carton. I thought for sure we were all going to die in a storm.
I like that – I’ll have to allow myself some cloud time. And a chance to get over to Lake Michigan and enjoy the clouds over that huge expanse of water. Cloud watching is better over the lake.
I love sunsets and clouds. The more fantastic the clouds, the better the sunset.
I love the interplay of light and color on the clouds
My favorite way to look at clouds is from above in airplane. They make the most fantastical landscape. It’s really stunning.
i went to wheeling, wv, with my son for his first marine ball. i was afraid to leave an 18 yo boy alone with two cases of beer in his room and a comatose 18 yo on the next bed. we watched the sad drunk all night, just in case. the next morning, at dawn, there was a brief service in the covered parking area. while i watched, from the shadows, i glanced beyond their bowed heads and saw the eagle, globe and anchor displayed in brilliant sun and shadow on a cloud! it still gives me shivers.
Lightning storms in the desert remind me of the power of God
It’s been a long time since I laid back and enjoyed the clouds. I love to meditate while floating on the water, now cloud watching is part of my meditation routine.
My favorite clouds are the streaky ones at sunset, esp over the lake, that give it the amazing colors. White fluffy clouds are nice, but clouds that are orange, coral, pink and purple are even better.
The most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen in the clouds was a sheet lightning storm many years ago in Madrid. We stood out on the balcony of our hotel, drinking sangria and enjoying the light show bouncing around in the clouds.
I live in Cocoa Beach, Florida, one of the communities around Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is always inspiring to see rockets and spacecraft emerging from a cloud, brilliant, fiery thrust pushing them upward. During that moment I always feel such pride in American ingenuity.
I’ve always loved looking at clouds and identifying shapes. The most memorable cloud experience was flying through the clouds right into a lightning storm. It was rather unsettling!
There’s not one most remarkable thing, clouds are remarkable every day. Like snowflakes, no two are alike. They shade me in the sun, they bring rain and fabulous lightening shows. Looking at clouds brings me peace and joy.
Driving through the clouds on the Blue Ridge Parkway…otherworldly.
Stopping and taking the time to enjoy the clouds especially with a beautiful sunset over the mountaintops.
When I was a child I thought I saw, in the top of a gigantic thunder head moving across the plain, a shining city where I figured the sun never set.
I love seeing dark grumpy faces in the Oregon rain clouds!
Rainbows and wispy mates tails
Flying over mountains and looking down at a fog bank and gorgeous clouds ringing the peaks.
This may be a cheat, but I grew up in Akron, and I have to say: the Goodyear Blimp. My mom once stopped the car to take a picture of one while driving me to the Greyhound station (I don’t know why she had a camera with her—1980s, not cell phone times); she has a second sense for them. They don’t live in Akron these days, but she saw one last week, and said it’s larger than they used to be.
Black angry clouds over Gulf of Mexico with lightning streaking through them
Just last night on a friend’s rooftop here in Brooklyn, NY where there is too much light pollution to see much of anything in the night sky, we saw a brilliant shooting star drifting slowly down. it was remarkable in so many ways!
Morning of May 18, 1980 when Mount St. Helens erupted.
We lived in Portland, Oregon, in the NW section of town in a rental on the second floor of an old house with a gorgeous view of the mountain and that weekend we were moving to the SE section of town.
Horrendous sight that weekend!
Portland itself was covered in ash for quite a while.
And the loss of over 50 people and many animals!
Will never forget!
I love seeing clouds that look like my Labradoodle!
Sunset from on top of the clouds in an airplane is breathtaking.
the outline of a dog after mine had passed
Love to see the rainbows poking through
The beautiful sunsets above the Pacific with strands of colored clouds.
This week it was a dragonfly and an airplane seeming to be the same size as they crossed paths above me while I floated in the pool.
Flying above them reminds me of childhood dreams where I could fly above them-happy and beautiful!
Mick Jagger’s lips!
Marge Simpson–hair AND face
Thin, wispy clouds that look like ripples of water as they reach the beach.
The realization that clouds look different in different parts of the world. The best looking clouds are in the pacific north west – they have a pinkish color and look like cotton candy…
Nature, in slow motion, as it pertains to putting a seed in the ground only to turn around weeks later and be holding a vegetable in your hand
We were flying into OHare once and saw a beautiful rainbow among some lovely clouds.
I love to look at clouds. And photograph them. We had a beautiful sunset Tuesday night with streaky and dotted clouds tinged with orange and pink.
Dragons!
I think the colors in the clouds caused by the reflected sun can be the most amazing!
A funnel cloud while driving my daughter from MT to Texas for a summer internship. Amazing to see in person…
Sometimes clouds are a feeling, not a “thing”. So, what I see in clouds is peace.
My most recent cloud of interest looked like a calligraphic flourish
On September 11th 2001 I saw “spirits” in the clouds above lower Manhattan. It is still a vivid memory two decades later. Hard to explain, but those who were there may know what I mean.
Lenticular clouds over Mt Rainier & other peaks around her on a clear day in WA state. Heavenly!
Sheep!
Lightning during a glorious Oklahoma thunderstorm!
It was a very gray day, but late afternoon the sun shone through the clouds and a rainbow encircled the sun. I stared in awe as the colours had a crystalline quality. Even the clouds seemed to glow from within.
Purple lightning coming through thunderstorm clouds that were slightly orange from wildfires. Felt very alien.
The sun setting above and below the clouds at the same time—from an airplane!
A cloud that looked like the moon…I had to do a double take!
During a sunset, I saw lime green clouds, one of them looked like a frog.
When my fiancée & I were driving through a storm, we marveled at horizontal lightening, 360 degrees around us, illuminating the storm clouds for hours. Fortunately, he was driving, so I leaned the seat back & watched the show.
I once saw a Saint Bernard in the clouds…just sitting there! I captured a photo but cannot leave it here in the comments.
Recently my elderly mom and I watched a dog/llama/lamb cloud slowly morph into a hummingbird over a lake in Florida.
It is a tossup between atmospheric waves (best seen from above the clouds) and wicked diffraction (best seen from below).
I’ve seen many cloud animals running happily but only ONE chubby baby. Wow!
Two or three times a year I get to see a beautiful full rainbow out my window as those big storm clouds clear here in Rainbow Lake, NY
I just love the big white fluffy clouds bouncing along in a clear blue sky, sometimes looks like baby chicks following mama.
Lightning!
I love clouds I call “hockey sticks”; strands of clouds suddenly change direction and shift to almost 90 degrees and keep going in an almost straight line..
I have always loved the juxtaposition of the perfectly straight contrail line cutting through the curls and swirls of other cloud formations.
I once saw a cloud formation that looked like a Yorkie!
Just a couple weeks ago I saw a baby dragon with a puff of smoke coming out of its mouth.
I now live hemmed in by mountains which limits the expanse of sky so most of my memorable clouds moments were traveling in the Midwest. The last trip to Iowa I saw an amazing bank of dark clouds. The leading edge was neatly curled. Fortunately it was only heavy rain and not a wild storm. Wisconsin was were I saw my first and only funnel cloud. It didn’t touch down. Then there was the trip when we managed to drive ahead of a massive storm which we saw brewing when we were in Wisconsin. It caught up with us in Ohio while we were camping. Lots of wind and heavy rain that night. We were very surprised come morning when we found we were the only ones left in the campground. Everyone else had cleared out during the night.
Monsoon clouds are the best clouds in the Sonoran desert. Dark and heavy and moving with life.
The image that comes to mind is the profile of Elvis … he lives on.
Every single time the sky is full of clouds, I am compelled to take upteen amounts of photos. I am awed by these formations and also reminded of how miniscule humans are to nature.
It looked like a gigantic dark flattened thread spool and appeared very ominous. I thought it was the beginning of a terrible storm.
Iridescent clouds, it looks like a rainbow on the edge of a cloud.
Living in FL, there are some serious dark storm clouds. I have a serious respect for lightning but love to watch storms approach.