More beautiful clouds

I grew up in a place called Bracknell which is in Berkshire, England, and for decades the town was important because the UK's meteorological office (met office) was based there. My father worked there although he was placed at Beaufort Park, a beautiful place a little outside Bracknell, which was an experimental site for the met office and the Ministry of Defense (who then ran the met office - they may still do, I'm unsure).

Because the met office was a major employer in the town many of my neighbours also worked there. I still remember receiving a book from our next door neighbour on cloud recognition. It must have been my 9th or 10th birthday, I don't remember now, but it was a wonderful gift! Unfortunately I no longer have the book but I still remember the pictures and remember asking my father to test my cloud recognition on those long summer evenings at home.

I'm sure the last thing he wanted to do was talk meteorology again after a long day at work, but he did and it's what got me into science. It was a wonderful time and I wish he was still around so I could say thank you!

The met office is no longer in Bracknell, I believe it moved to Exeter in south-west England, and my father is also no longer around, but I think something has stuck in my mind from those times over thirty years ago. I still love the beauty of clouds!

By the way, the same neighbour gave me my first astronomy book a couple of years earlier.

Anyway, these were pictures taken in March this year and versions of them appeared in this blog then, but there were several pictures I didn't process so here are one or two new ones from that evening. Please click on the pictures for larger versions as usual.



Oh, you want me to name the cloud types?