18 July 2026

Scientific Names: The modern classification of clouds uses Latin words based on their visual appearance. These were formalized by pharmacist and meteorologist Luke Howard in 1802

Cirrus: Mount Washington Observatory notes this Latin term translates to "a lock of hair".Cumulus: Latin for "a heap or pile".Stratus: Latin for "a layer or sheet".Nimbus: Indicates a cloud that produces rain.

The phrase "on cloud nine" describes a state of intense euphoria or bliss. Its etymology is uncertain, but it likely stems from 1950s U.S. Weather Bureau classifications, where "Cloud 9" (the cumulonimbus) was the highest, fluffiest, and most impressive cloud. Early 20th-century literature and jazz musicians helped popularize the idiom.

I was taught the above as a boy in an American grammar school in Buenos Aires. How many today would know the terms or find them useful?

I use exterior hard drives to store my large files of my plants scans and my family photographs. I use duplicate hard drives. I don’t trust that cloud in the sky the people use now to store what they consider to be important.

In my daily bike ride to Jericho Beach I invariably stop at a park (always the same one) on Point Grey Road at the end of Musqueam View Street. I take the same view with my Fuji X-E3 and I underexpose it two stops. I find that by then using my 22 year old Photoshop 8 the results better mimic the use of a polarizer.

When I gaze on this view I thank my Rosemary who brought us from Mexico City to Vancouver in 1975. Clouds in Mexico City were always yellow because of the extreme pollution. Rosemary would almost not recognize that 1975 Vancouver because of all the tall buildings on the skyline.