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Hot take: People keep calling every kind of cloud a 'nimbus' and it drives me nuts

I was at a BBQ last Saturday and my buddy pointed at a flat gray sky and said 'look at those nimbus clouds.' Actually those were stratus clouds. Nimbus means rain-bearing, so a nimbostratus is a rain cloud that's flat and layered. I started noticing people mix this up all the time online and in real life. Has anyone else had to correct a friend on cloud types or am I just being too picky?
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3 Comments
lee_ward54
lee_ward541mo ago
Stratus sounds like a fancy yoga pose I can't do.
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the_jade
the_jade10d ago
Think about it more like a car than a yoga pose. In weather terms, stratus clouds are those flat, gray blankets that cover the whole sky, not the puffy ones you see on a sunny day. So if someone calls it a "stratus sky" it just means it's overcast and dull, which honestly fits how I feel when I can't do a yoga pose either.
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smith.anna
smith.anna1mo ago
Is @lee_ward54 saying stratus is hard to pronounce or just a bad yoga student?
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