Cirrocumulus clouds are part of the high cloud group. When cirrocumulus clouds look like this picture, it is called a "mackerel sky" because the clouds look like the scales on a mackerel fish.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of UCAR Digital Image Library
High Clouds
The high cloud group consists of
Cirrus,
Cirrostratus, and
Cirrocumulus clouds. The prefix cirro- means
'high.' High clouds consist of
primarily ice crystals due to the
cold air
in the
upper
troposphere. The base of a high cloud above
the surface can be anywhere from 6000-18000m in the tropics to 3000-8000m in the
polar
regions.
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