This morning while waiting for the sunrise(though it was a no show due to the cloudy conditions), saw this rare and strange looking cloud that was moving slowly in a horizontal direction from the west to the north east direction. Possibly this is a species of stratocumulus or altocumulus cloud widely known as a roll cloud. Commonly known as the 'roll cloud', this ‘volutus’ cloud species is found in only altocumulus and stratocumulus cloud types. Clouds of the volutus species look almost like horizontal tubes. Its appearance this morning was bizzare and ominous as it resembled a war ship passing by slowly Volutus cloud formations are very uncommon, but as a cloud species, they’re found much more often as stratocumulus clouds compared to altocumulus clouds, making altocumulus volutus clouds especially rare. It’s important to note that the volutus cloud species is often confused with the arcus cloud feature, more commonly known as a shelf cloud. The main difference between a roll cloud and a shelf cloud is that a roll cloud is a standalone cloud, where a shelf cloud is always attached to the base of a cumulonimbus or cumulus cloud.

In order for the cloud to be classified as volutus, one should take note that these clouds are usually standalone and don’t usually have any other associated varieties or features. As a cloudspotter, it’s easy to spot these clouds due to their uniqueness. I think it was fun to photograph while it was rolling through the morning skies in a horizontal motion.