Cloud Whispers

Clouds tell their tales through form and motion. For those conversant in their language, there is much to know and true foretelling. I never was much good at reading tea leaves or entrails. I leave those arts to others. But clouds? Clouds speak a language I oftimes comprehend. And when they roar, well, even the inanimate/insensate understand.

The clouds are whispering. With ear bent skyward I strain to hear.

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I had not known that the Royal Meteorological Society catalogs cloud languages. I may have never learned about these linguists except for an odd new development. For the first time in more than a half century, the cloud listeners are cataloging a heretofore unheard dialect (oh dear, methinks I may have beaten this poor metaphor to death...sorry).

Meteorologists have dubbed these clouds “Asperatus” based on the Latin word for “rough”. They’ve been sighted around the world in recent years, from Scotland to Australia, over Iowa and the Arctic seas. They appear ominous, dark and demonic. Although sodden with water vapor, they rarely result in rain. The heat energy required to create such roiling forms must be immense indeed. Physicists conjecture they may result when warm air trapped in the lower atmosphere bumps up against a boundary layer of the cooler middle atmosphere.

The clouds are whispering. May we possess the wisdom to listen
and learn.


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