Altostratus clouds are part of the middle cloud group.
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Courtesy of Keith G. Diem. Used by permission.
Middle Clouds
The middle cloud group consists of Altostratus
and Altocumulus clouds. The prefix alto- means
'middle.' Middle clouds consist of ice crystals and water droplets. The base
of a middle cloud above
the surface can be anywhere from 2000-8000m in the tropics to 2000-4000m in the
polar
regions.
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Altostratus clouds (weather symbol - As) consist of water and some ice crystals. They belong to the Middle Cloud group (2000-7000m up). An altostratus cloud usually covers the whole sky and has a gray
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