Stratocumulus castellanus or Stratocumulus castellatus is a type of

stratocumulus A stratocumulus cloud, occasionally called a cumulostratus, belongs to a genus-type of clouds characterized by large dark, rounded masses, usually in groups, lines, or waves, the individual elements being larger than those in altocumulus, and the ...

cloud.

Castellanus A castellanus (), or castellatus, is a cloud that displays at least in its cloud top, upper part cumuliform protuberances having the shape of turret (architecture), turrets that give a battlement, crenellated aspect. Some of these turrets are hig ...

is derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, meaning 'of a castle.' Clouds of this type appear as cumuliform turrets vertically rising from a common horizontal cloud base. These turrets are taller than they are wide. The presence of stratocumulus castellanus clouds indicates an increasingly unstable atmosphere, and seeing this type of cloud in the morning usually means that there is a possibility of

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are som ...

forming later in the afternoon. In the right conditions, these clouds can grow into

cumulus congestus Cumulus congestus or towering cumulus clouds are a species of cumulus that can be based in the low- to middle-height ranges. They achieve considerable vertical development in areas of deep, moist convection. They are an intermediate stage between ...

clouds and, sometimes, into

cumulonimbus Cumulonimbus () is a dense, towering, vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water va ...

clouds.

References

{{Cloud types Cumulus Clouds