ALL meanings of cirrostratus
cir·ro·stra·tus
C c - noun cirrostratus a uniform layer of cloud above about 6000 metres (20 000 feet) 3
- noun cirrostratus the type of thin, whitish cloud found at high altitudes and consisting of ice crystals: such clouds often produce halo phenomena 3
- noun plural cirrostratus a cloud of a class characterized by a composition of ice crystals and often by the production of halo phenomena and appearing as a whitish and usually somewhat fibrous veil, often covering the whole sky and sometimes so thin as to be hardly discernible: of high altitude, about 20,000–40,000 feet (6000–12,000 meters). 1
- noun cirrostratus Cloud forming a thin, more or less uniform, semitranslucent layer at high altitude, usually 16,500–45,000 feet (5-13 km). 1
- noun cirrostratus (meteorology) A principal high-level cloud type appearing as a whitish veil, usually fibrous but sometimes smooth, which may totally cover the sky and which often produces halo phenomena, either partially or completely. Sometimes a banded aspect may appear, but the intervals between the bands are filled with thinner cloud veil. The edge of the veil of cirrostratus may be straight and clean-cut, but more often it is irregular and fringed with cirrus. Some of the ice crystals that comprise the cloud are large enough to fall and thereby produce a fibrous aspect. Cirrostratus occasionally may be so thin and transparent as to render it almost indiscernible, especially through haze or at night. At such times, the existence of a halo may be the only revealing feature, such as producing a halo around the moon. Abbreviated: Cs. 0