Cirrus cloud spreading from the top of a dying cumulonimbus. Cirrus forms from tropical cyclones, and is commonly seen fanning out from the eyewalls of hurricanes. A large shield of cirrus and cirrostratus typically accompanies the high altitude outflow of hurricanes or typhoons, and these can make the underlying rain bands—and sometimes even the eye—difficult to detect in satellite photographs. Thunderstorms can form dense cirrus at their tops. As the cumulonimbus cloud in a thunderstorm grows vertically, the liquid water droplets freeze when the air temperature reaches the freezing point. The anvil cloud takes its shape because the temperature inversion at the
Altostratus undulatus cloud elements that have stretched through the sky. They often run parallel, but can also appear to interweave across the sky, especially if dual wave systems are seen (also referred to as biundulatus). Gravity waves aligned normally to the direction of the wind can show wide, near-parallel cloud strips. Altostratus undulatus cloud The altostratus undulatus is a type of altostratus cloud with signature undulations within it. These undulations may be visible (usually as "wavy bases"), but frequently they are indiscernible to the naked eye. These formations will generally appear in the early stages of destabilizing return flows, especially over the southern