View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sally Mesarosh in Mesa, Arizona, captured this photo on September 12, 2023, and wrote: “This photo was taken during a very intense monsoon storm in Mesa, Arizona. Lightning continually flashed behind clouds.” Thank you, Sally! Learn about the 2nd Cloud Appreciation Day below and how you can participate.
Happy Cloud Appreciation Day!
September 15, 2023, is Cloud Appreciation Day. The international online event is organized by the Cloud Appreciation Society, which has more than 59,000 members in 120 countries. Their Memory Cloud Atlas website goes live today, Friday September 15, at one minute after midnight (your local time). It’s a place where anyone around the world can upload an image of their sky on Cloud Appreciation Day, locate themselves on a map and share what they feel about the sky and the clouds.
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, said:
The Memory Cloud Atlas will serve as a worldwide snapshot of our views of the sky on Cloud Appreciation Day. It will help to remind people that clouds are the most dynamic, evocative and accessible part of nature.
Members of the Cloud Appreciation Society love looking for interesting and unusual cloud formations on any day of the year. Therefore, the Memory Cloud Atlas is an opportunity for everyone, whatever their age, to join us in looking up and spending a few moments with their head in the clouds on Cloud Appreciation Day.
Last year over 3,000 images were uploaded to the 2022 atlas and can be viewed here.
Enjoy some beautiful clouds from our own EarthSky Community Photos below, and also read a book review of Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s book “A Cloud a Day” in our column Media we love.
Cloud gallery from EarthSky Community members
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Noel Bowman in Kent, Washington, captured this photo of noctilucent clouds on June 25, 2023. Noel wrote: “Shot at Lake Meridian after sunset. Fairly wide display as well.” Thank you, Noel!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Patricia Stush in Westwood, New Jersey, captured this image on June 21, 2023. Patricia wrote: “Summer solstice sunset.” Thank you, Patricia! Clouds naturally enhance the beauty of a sunset.Mammatus clouds from Kelly Kizer Whitt at the Amtrak station in Whitefish, Montana, on July 7, 2022. See the mammatus clouds on the far underside of the storm? Image via Kelly Kizer Whitt.
More cloud gallery from EarthSky Community members
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Osama Fathi in Giza, Egypt, captured this image on Feebruary 2, 2023, of the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus peaking through the clouds above the Great Pyramid of Giza. Osama named this photo “Cosmic love above the pyramids.” Thank you, Osama!Of course, there are star clouds in the Milky Way. View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mary Ditchie near Santa Margarita, California, captured this image on August 11, 2023. Mary wrote: “The town of Santa Margarita glows on the horizon through some clouds. The night sky was very clear there and the Milky Way showed up brilliantly next to an old oak tree.” Thank you, Mary! How many stars can you see in the night sky? Good luck counting all those!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Gabriela Freitas Minaguti in Gloucester, Massachusetts, captured this image of Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds on August 13, 2022. Gabriela wrote: “Taken while doing the whale watching tour from Cape Ann.” Thank you, Gabriela!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steve Price took this image of clouds hovering low around Mt. Rainier in Washington state on September 13, 2022. Steve wrote: “Flying to Alaska on vacation. Weather is usually socked in this time of year, but I got lucky and captured Mt. Rainier this morning.” Thank you, Steve!
Additional cloud gallery from EarthSky Community members
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Craig Small captured this image of tall clouds on the horizon blocking sunlight from half the sky on August 4, 2022. Craig wrote: “Captured amazing photos and videos from Bicentennial Tower Lake Erie, Erie, Pennsylvania.” Thank you, Craig!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Louise Pecevich in Glacier National Park took this image on September 5, 2022. Louise wrote: “Lake MacDonald was clear and calm, permitting reflection of the mountains and sky.” Thank you, Louise!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peg Yates in Woodbridge, Virginia, captured this impressive view in the morning of April 1, 2022. Peg wrote: “Out running errands and this is what greeted me. I have several photos of these clouds.” Thank you, Peg! These clouds are called undulatus clouds.
Bottom line: Cloud Appreciation Day is September 15, 2023. Enjoy this gallery of beautiful clouds and share your own with the Cloud Appreciation Society and us!
Kelly Kizer Whitt has been a science writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine, and she has made regular contributions to AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club, among other outlets. Her children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, was published in 2012. She has also written a young adult dystopian novel titled A Different Sky. When she is not reading or writing about astronomy and staring up at the stars, she enjoys traveling to the national parks, creating crossword puzzles, running, tennis, and paddleboarding. Kelly lives in Wisconsin.
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