Cirrus, nimbus, cumulus and stratus make up the four categories of our clouds. The names derive from latin terms, but who came up with these names in the first place?

The man involved with naming clouds, was called Luke Howard. Born in 1772 in London, he loved nature and weather from his early days. Although he was a chemist by profession, he made his name as an amateur meteorologist and for more thirty years of his life he observed the weather and kept a meteorological diary to record weather events.

Prior to 1802, clouds weren’t given specific names. Instead they were referred to dark, or black, or mackerel skies, and so on. However, Luke Howard decided that describing them by colour wasn’t the best way, so he came up with a classification for clouds, which is still used around the World today.

Luke was thirty when he wrote a scientific paper entitled ‘On the Modification of Clouds’. In the paper he commented that all clouds actually fitted into three different groups, each with it’s own specific characteristics. Later on he added a fourth category.

The groups were called cirrus, cumulus, stratus and nimbus, meaning ‘curl of hair’, ‘heap’, ‘layer’ and ‘rain bearing’. As he developed his classification, he developed the terms alto and fracto, meaning middle and broken, as well.

His paper was widely received and commended and was taken on by observers and meteorologists both here in the UK and abroad. BBC Broadcast Meteorologist, Michael Fish, says weather forecasters use the terms every day. "We are eternally grateful that Luke Howard came up with such an easy and straightforward way of naming clouds", he said. The Royal Meteorological Society recognised his work and made him a fellow in 1821.

Although his classification of clouds helped meteorologists, it is thought it also influenced the Romantic movement, particularly the famous sky images in the paintings of Constable and Turner as well as the poetry of Coleridge, Shelley and Goethe.

An English Heritage Blue Plaque, in honour of Luke Howard, was unveiled Michael Fish, at Luke Howard’s former home at 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham, London in April 2002.