Sleuthing

So, after getting home I immediately checked conditions and it seemed like they were consistent if not cooler, windier. This, paired with the observation of wind-direction and clouds present at the time, I have to say that at the time of class on Wednesday we were dropping in barometric pressure and that we were either at the nadir of the depression or we were just then beginning to come back up. The following morning and day seemed to confirm as much but by the end of the day it seemed like the weather was picking up steadily.... So in that 2-3 day span I have to say that we were either at the lowest point of barometric point in a storm system and that it was to begin rising, and having risen on the next day, proceeded with another storm front that came in. This may have explained the presence for so many different types of clouds. This is my initial observation and guess... Here is some of the research I did, primarily on cloud cover and weather systems.

It seems that clouds are categorized primarily by where they are located within the atmosphere, with a particular cloud-type's defining qualities measured by shape, size, and concentration within that atmospheric stratification. The strata are named accordingly: High-level, Mid-level, Low-level, Clouds with Vertical Development, and other cloud types (irregular cloud formations).

High-level clouds:
Cirrus (discussed in class),

Cirrostratus(high-altitude ice clouds)


Mid-level clouds:
Altocumulus (formed through convection, which may result from the lifting of air in advance of a cold front),


Altostratus (grey hazy clouds, large air mass that is lifted and then condensed, typically by an incoming frontal system)



Low-level clouds:
Nimbostratus (big fluffy low hanging rain clouds),



Stratocumulus (lump with breaks in between, weak precipitation)



Clouds with Vertical Development:
Fair Weather Cumulus (looks like floating cotton with a flat base),


Cumulonimbus (talked about in class),


However, after looking at these pictures, I'm quite certain that we were seeing Fair Weather Cumulus, not Cumulonimbus, and that the clouds we were calling Cirrus were really Altocumulus. Which leads me to believe that instead of us being at the lowest point and on our way up in barometric pressure, we were really already finished with the actual cold front but were experiencing another slow front rolling in. When that front was finished by Thursday then I believe we were hit with another one mid-afternoon to late evening. I do not know how to confirm or disprove my intial hypothesis and final conclusion, even after looking at Dr. Tomlinson's weather tool it mentions nothing of actual fronts moving in. The weather forecast keeps progressing forward and I can't seem to procure an in-depth view of the 24th. http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=lub
I tried using that website as well.