I love this time of year when we begin having big cloud formations across the sky to enjoy, ponder, forecast from, and maybe even run from. This is exciting stuff!

There are the standard cloud types which as a sea captain I have studied, including cumulonimbus, nimbostratus, cirrus and others.

A storm is seen from a boat off the Santa Barbara coast. (Courtesy photo)
A storm is seen from a boat off the Santa Barbara coast. (Courtesy photo)

Those are classic and you can do a Google search and take your device outside, or print out a page, go outside and compare to what is up in the sky.

Some of those can help you understand and forecast what is coming next, like rain, hail, or another type of cloud formation as a weather system evolves.

Cloud watching can be informative, and I enjoy being one to cast an eye to the sky and forecast what is coming.

Even more exciting are cloud formations that mean something locally, and perhaps imminently.

For example, we get a local tight-to-the-ground cloud cap over the coastal range behind Goleta and Santa Barbara that extends partway down into high canyons and ravines. Seafaring people call them the “fingers of death.”

We know from experience at sea that those particular cloud formations develop when there are strong northwest winds in the western part of the Santa Barbara Channel. So the fingers of death serve as a warning of what parts of the ocean we should steer clear of in the interest of keeping people safe and comfortable.

I’ve been out on the ocean and watched clouds swirl, bulge, twist and quickly form a three-mile-long horizontal twister on the underside of the stratus directly above us. That looks scary.

When that occurs, I tell everyone aboard to hang on while I turn the boat and skedaddle as fast as those 500 horses on the back of my boat will gallop. I want to be well away before that horizontal twister detaches, drops one end and becomes a dangerous waterspout.

Wedge shapes of dark water-filled clouds look ominous, and towering thunderheads with their anvil-shaped tops can pack a serious wallop. Out on the water, we blast away from those pretty quickly.
 
When the lightning starts flying those of us on boats naturally think, “Yup, guess we’re the tallest thing around out here.” Not a comforting feeling.
 
Cloud watching is fun and informative and I’m glad the cloud season is finally here. Let’s hope for lots and lots of clouds (and wet ones) this season.

Capt. David Bacon is a boating safety consultant and expert witness, with a background in high-tech industries and charter boat ownership and operation. He teaches classes for Santa Barbara City College and, with a lifelong interest in wildlife, writes outdoors columns for Noozhawk and other publications. The opinions expressed are his own.