What causes clouds to look like this

[Jake Tyson]

Well the title pretty much says it all. but What kind of clouds are these, and what makes them all wavy?

 

[Wes Carter]

I wonder if these clouds are of the recently classified asperatus.

 

[Mike Deep]

Take a look at altostratus undulatus as well, which I've seen used interchangeably with asperatus (Would be nice if someone could clarify this).

http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/SkyPix/asundula.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altostratus_undulatus_cloud
http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse?s=a&p=46

 

[Jason Berner]

I have seen these before but they're not real common. I think they did just recently classify this type of cloud with a new name/type but I honestly can't remember it at this time.

 

[Jake Tyson]

thanks for all the great answers so far, all i could find is that they may be called undulatus asperatus

 

[rdale]

I wonder if these clouds are of the recently classified asperatus.

I don't think they were ever formally added to the list - the latest info I had says that the Royal Met Society was still researching to see if they are succinctly different from undulatus.

 

[Jake Tyson]

wiki pedia says they are official (but we all know how true that site is lol)

is the royal met society the only ones who can make something official?

 

[Andrew Ryan]

is the royal met society the only ones who can make something official?

Nope. The WMO is actually the organization that makes it "official."

 

[Jake Tyson]

thanks for telling me that, WMO is "World Meteorological Organization" right?

 

[Steven Williams]

Very photogenic clouds. I believe they indicate warm moist air over the top of colder dry surface air. The sounding would show a nice inversion. I am guessing the wavy pattern is caused by turbulence in the cooler surface air mass. The clouds don't look high enough to be altostratus, more likely a form of stratocumulus.