Telltales
"Mare’s tails and mackerel scales,
make tall ships carry low sails."
Back in 1803, in his essay on clouds, Luke Howard divided clouds into three categories; Cirrus, Cumulus and Stratus.
The Latin word 'cirro' means curl of hair. Composed of ice crystals, cirro-form clouds are whitish and hair-like. They are the high, wispy clouds to first appear in advance of a low pressure area such as a mid-latitude storm system or a tropical system such as a hurricane.
In the early days of sail, Howard's cloud types were described by their appearance, or what they resembled in appearance, to the sailors.
"Mare’s tails" are wispy cirrus clouds while the "mackerel scales" are small clumpy altocumulus clouds resembling fish scales in the sky. In the days of large sailing ships, this meant a storm would be approaching soon and the sails should be lowered to protect from the accompanying high winds.
They're here, in the sky over Pensacola, this morning.
Still South of Jamaica, and headed North, Hurricane Matthew is a strong storm; prayers for those in its path.
/fl