Cumulus clouds, for example, get their start when solar energy evaporates water from oceans, plants, and soil by breaking the bonds that hold water molecules together.
A high, whispy cirrus cloud that descended and spread into a sheet was named cirrostratus, while groups of fluffy cumulus clouds that joined up and spread were named stratocumulus.
The heavily voluted cumulus clouds lower gloomily and threateningly; they wear that implacable look which I have sometimes noticed at the outbreak of a great storm.
In fact, all clouds belong to one of three principle types to which Howard gave the names: cirrus, Latin for tendril or hair, cumulus, heap or pile, and stratus, layer or sheet.
The last mile of its course lies between the sides of sunken domes and swelling folds of the granite that are clustered and pressed together like a mass of bossy cumulus clouds.