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Roll Cloud (Photo: Gavin Pretor-Pinney)
Marco Werman speaks with Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, about his new book, “The Cloud Collector’s Handbook”. Download MP3
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Marco Werman: Real clouds are the passion of Gavin Pretor-Pinney. He founded the cloud appreciation society. It’s motto is “Look up and Wonder” and that give you an idea of what Mr. Pretor-Pinney thinks about clouds. He’ll take a cloudy day over a sunny day any day. Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s new book is called “The Cloud Collectors Handbook.” Gavin joins us from Summerset, England. What, first of all, is cloud collecting?
Gavin Pretor-Pinney: Well I guess it’s just noticing them for starters. I mean I didn’t think you have to own something. I don’t think you have to be able to put it in a cabinet to collect it. In this book there are bits where you can write down the different cloud types that you spot. And you note down where you saw them, what the conditions were like at the time, so there’s a kind of nerdy collecting element. But, you know, cloud collecting to me is really something about noticing and appreciating these things above us which is so omnipresent and so everyday that we become blind to them.
Werman: Right. I mean some people go bird watching, you go cloud watching. How many clouds do you think you’ve seen total? Different clouds total in your lifetime?
Pretor-Pinney: Oh, God. I mean really every cloud is unique. We try and put them in these pigeon holes. We give them names like, you know, the cumulus cloud; which is like the puffy clumpy one you see on a sunny day. Or the cirrus cloud that the high streaks of ice crystals were given these names but each one is always in flux and so it’s really some man’s desire to name things. In reality every cloud is unique so I’ve seen who knows how many. Who knows how many I’ve seen but in terms of all the different ones in this book, I mean, there are so many different…
Werman: Well there’s some pretty dramatic…
Pretor-Pinney: …so many different types.
Werman: Yeah, there’s some pretty dramatic clouds here I’ve never even heard of or seen or thought about. There’s a Kelvin Helm Holtz, the crown jewel in any cloud collection. What’s a Kelvin Helm Holtz cloud look like?
Pretor-Pinney: If you were to imagine what the favorite cloud of a surfer would be I think it would be the Kelvin Helm Holtz, wave cloud, because it looks like a series of breaking waves, one next to the other, and each one curling over at the top like a kind of breaker; like a pipe on the north shore of Hawaii. This is they’re very dramatic.
Werman: They almost look man made, like a sky pilot went up there and drew these clouds in the sky. Where would you see these?
Pretor-Pinney: Well you see them all over. In fact, what causes them is when you have the wind that’s above the layer of cloud being kind of quite different from the wind that is below the layer of cloud and when these two winds are at different speeds you get like a sheering affect in between the two causes undulations to develop in the layer of cloud rising and falling top sort of surface of the cloud. And if that difference in the two winds is just right, then the tops of these undulations can be sort of turned over in these vortexes so the process is rather different from a breaking wave at the shore but they look just like breaking waves at the shore. And you get high points for these. All the different clouds you can spot in the book you get points for. The Kelvin Helm Hortz cloud is the highest scoring cloud in the book because it is quite rare and when you see it, it only hangs around for a few minutes. It’s fleeting.
Werman: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about those points. You accumulate these points and who do you share those points with and what do you win with all the points you get?
Pretor-Pinney: You win a greater appreciation and understanding of the sky.
Werman: Which is a good prize.
Pretor-Pinney: How about that for a prize.
Werman: Yeah, that’s a really good prize.
Pretor-Pinney: One thing I thought was funny, I thought it was a funny idea to have points because the idea of there being a kind of competitive nature of cloud gazing amused me and the act of watching the clouds in many senses is the opposite of the kind of competitive nature of the modern world. It’s kind of stepping away from that and it’s like a kind of moment of meteorological meditation to step out of your concerns down here on the ground and tune in to what’s going on up in the sky so it’s good. It’s a good way of slowing yourself down for a few minutes.
Werman: Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s new book is “The Cloud Collectors Handbook.” You can see some of the clouds from the book at theworld.org or hey, just go outside, look up at the sky, and see for yourself. Gavin, thanks very much.
Pretor-Pinney: It’s great to speak to you.
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