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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's . . . a "super"-confusing cloud!   A new type of cloud darkening the skies all over Brittan and New Zealand has observers in a fog.

All types of clouds can typically be classified into three main categories: Stratus (flat, featureless low clouds that look like fog high off the ground), cumulus (tall, heaping puffy clouds that look like stretched cotton balls), or cirrus (thin, wispy high clouds that look like spilled milk).

Yet, a new cloud is making waves.  This cloud formation may soon be known as Asperatus, thanks to a polling of The Cloud Appreciation Society members.  From below, these clouds look similar to the surface of a choppy sea.   The name Asperatus, appropriately enough, translates to "rough" in Latin.

The Asperatus clouds bring an ominous, stormy glow to the sky, but not all Asperatus clouds spawn storms.

Images courtesy of The Cloud Appreciation Society

The precise causes integral to forming these cloud are not yet all fully understood.  To produce such dramatic displays, these clouds need much energy.  The clouds must have a lot of heat and moisture, too, noted by an expert from the Royal Meteorology Society, a London-based organization that advances the understanding of weather and climate. 

Because of its unique qualities, the Asperatus cloud does not fit into one of the three main categories.  The World Meteorological Organization, located in Geneva, will have the final say on whether or not the Asperatus clouds earn the distinction of their own cloud type.

Penn State Meteorologist and Fox Weather Correspondent