the names are for the type of cloud not shape

any useful feat that keeps 27 weather men employed is pretty amazing, isn't it?

Why did my parents name ME when they knew I would be constantly changing over the years? LOL! Change is the universal baseline.

By looking at the cloud formations meteorologists can predict wheather patterns. Having a name for the formations helps, it just wouldn't sound very authoritive if they said "Judging by that big billowy puffy looking one, and the long streaky one..."

Meteorology is a Science. Naming clouds helps Meteorologist communicate what they mean to each other. I studied Meteorology in college it is very interesting.

different countries, different races have different names for everything. . . for us filipino, rice is "palay", "bugas", in japan that is "gohan" same on clouds, they gave scientific names just to make a common name for everything...

Although clouds can look a bit different in shapes, the scientific names are important as the "main" shape of each cloud, their color, their height and their type of precipitations (when applicable)is important. Any meteorologist would say they do not only predict weather but also predict various type of storms and the level of danger that is related to it. For example, a nimbus is a cloud predicting serious storms that require safety measures. If ignored, some people could be stranded and injured during such storms.

True they can change but it is also true they can be indicative of weather pattens which is vital in making forecasts. The little bit I know about it, clouds are considered to be one of the biggest unknowns in their effect and their predictablity which is vital for not just short term forecasts but how and when they form in realtion to more global events, such as global warming or cooling. People who study such things need a common language to converse. +5

As a pilot, If I hear "cumulonimbus (CB)" over the radio, my ears are going to prick up. . It is important to know them all. For example, If I saw altostratus lenticularis then I would not go near it due to icing risks. . Clouds are also the end result of the stability of the air. Unstable air will lift due to the warm air near the ground being less dense than the cold air above. It could be a large parking lot that heats the air on a hot day. . The hot air rises and as it gets higher, there is less pressure and a process known as adiabatic cooling takes place. It simply cools because it is now expanding due to less pressure. The same heat is spread over a wider area. . As you know, warm air can hold more water as invisible vapor. When the air rises and cools, it can no longer hold its water, the air becomes saturated and cloud develops. Its about the relationship between temperature and dew point. With a given amount of water in the air, (absolute humidity) there will be an exact temperature that the air can be reduced to where dew will be produced and clouds developed. Its the relative humidity that is important here. . Further cooling will form rain usually. (So long as the vapor has hydroscopic nuclei to latch onto ot else it will get more and more saturated and result in super saturation whereby the relative humidity goes over 100%.) . This hot air rising isn't the only cause of clouds. . Oragraphic lifting will also produce cloud and rain. This is when the air is forced by wind to ride up and over a mountain or obstacle. . Again, as it rises, it expands and cools adiabatically and cannot hold its water in a gas form any longer. Water is squeezed out as clouds. . Here is where it gets interesting though. . Clouds some times want to continue going up past he top of the mountain!! Why? . This is due to the environmental temperature lapse rate (ELR). International Standard of Atmoshpere (ISA) states that the temperature will reduce by 1.98 degrees celsius per 1000ft increase in altitude. . When the air goes up the side of the mountain, it will generally cool as you would expect. However the air is very humid then cloud will form and latent heat will be released. . Latent heat is absorbed when the liquid became a vapor in the first place and the energy in the vapor is why the particles wizz around so much as a vapor. When it condenses and becomes cloud/water, there is no need for this energy and it is released as heat. The warm wet air cools slower with an increase in altitude and as a result, it is always warmer than the surrounding air. . What does hot air do? IT RISES!! so the air mass just keeps going up. until it either runs out of water or reaches the tropopause where there is an Isothermal layer of air. . When this precess occurs, its called a towering cumulonimbus and can become a thunderstorm. which is a whole nother chapter that I wont fly into right now. :) (funny funny) . Thunderstorms provide much.......entrainment to watch. (haha did anyone get that one? was it a typo?) . Yeah so moral of the story is that the names of cloud, (strataform, cumuliform,nimubs, fracto, alto,cirro, nautculus, lenticular and mammatus etc....) are very important to understand for people. . So, Strataform is stable and non rising. Cumulus is puffy and rising, fracto is fractured and ragged, nimus is water bearing, cirro is high altitude, alto is medium altitude, lenticular is lens shaped and caused by air wiggling after going over a mountain, mammatus is when the air in a thunder storm is driven down by sudden heavy rain in a thunderstorm and they are sort of like upside down cumulus. By far my favorite and the most rare, the cirrostratus nauticularis. If I have spelled it correctly, it is so rare it has only recently been discovered. It can only be seen from space and appears to cover a fair chunk of the globe. . And there you have it Mumpsimus, This is why you need to name clouds. Although I have just scratched the surface here and there is MUCH MUCH more to explain about what happens up there and there are many clouds I didn't cover (like funnel clouds), I am getting tired and my poor brain is pooped. . Keep looking up!!!!

Shape is not the sole aspect of different formations.

That is exactly the reason

What's the point in giving names to the days of the week? They're constantly changing.

They are named because of the density of the cloud & the potential for rain that it creates. The names are Latin. The meteorologist would sound kind of ignorant if he said that the day will be partly cloud with the long, thin, stringy types of clouds.

They are named for their "type" of cloud. More for what's in them but too for what they look like.