I flew out of Tampa Intl. on Monday morning r/l at 7am.The weather was windy,cloudy and showery until we reached 10-12 thousand ft. We broke through this layer,and the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue. Below,as we rose to 39 thousand,it looked like a snowy covered wonderland. I did a search on Wiki and the closest thing I found to this condition was stratocumulus clouds. Is it possible to re-create this in FSX? I asked this on the REX forum,but there seems to be little or no interest in advise.Thanks. Skip dVista 64;Q6600;4gb Ram;650HD;7900GT;Dell 19"monitor;UTX:GEX:REX

I see them all the time using either the default FSx weather or 'Open Cloud.

At the height you mention, they would not be stratocumulus, but of course you may have been observing stuff that was quite far below you.Statocumulus clouds form at between 2,000 and 6,500 feet and they are the in-between state of a normal cumulus cloud and a stratus cloud. The ones you saw were probably altocumulus or possibly the beginning of a cumulonimbus if the temperature was warming up after a rain shower.There are three sub-types of stratocumulus clouds:Stratocumulus stratoformis, which is typically large clumpy sections of cloud covering a wide expanse of the sky at about 5,000 feet.Stratocumulus castellanus, which as the name suggests, are a variation which looks like it has turrets similar to a castle.Stratocumulus lenticularis, which are smooth and as the name suggests are shaped like a lense. These, along with altocumulous lenticularis, are the ones people mistake for UFOs and are formed when a standing wave is often present blowing over a hilly ground feature.Anything that doesn't have these specifics is just a bog standard stratocumulus cloud, but within the three types are seven variations of stratocumulus, and these are:Duplicatus - that's when there is more than one distinctly separate layer of stratocumulus clouds.Perlucidus - that's when there are big horizontal gaps between individual stratocumulous clouds.Lacunosus - this is when there are big gaps but with smaller web-like clouds in between the main stratocumulus clouds.Radiatus - that's when they appear in lines similar to the cloud streets which regular cumulus clouds are famous for forming as the drift downwind.Opacus - that's when they form a layer thick enough to obscure the sky above them or the ground below them (FS has trouble depicting this well with the default cloud set).Translucidus - the opposite of opacus, i.e. when the stratocumulus is thin enough to be able to discern stuff above or below it.Undulatus - that's when they appear to form rolling waves in a line, again a bit like a cumulus cloud street.Most of them are good news for glider pilots because they mean the air is continuing to rise beyond the level typical for cumulus clouds, which is in fact usually how stratocumulus forms, i.e. it often starts out as a cumulus cloud and then keeps on going up and changing shape until it hits an inversion layer. This is the kind of boring crap you learn when you fly gliders, so you know where the lift is LOL.Altocumulus forms at between 6,500 and 18,000 feet and has the same three basic sub types as stratocumulus, plus another one - Altocumulus Floccus - which is when you see patchy clumps of cloud up fairly high with trails coming off them. The trails you see are in fact ice crystals falling from them and drifting on the wind. Altocumulus also has seven varieties, which are basically similar to the varieties of cumulostratus.I've scanned this picture for you, which should help you to determine what clouds you saw, but my guess would be some form of altocumulus with some stratocumulus below it:Hope that helps, and if you are really into this kind of stuff, here is a link which will help you some more: http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/Al

Good question and a great reply, very much appreciated, great example of 'best practice' and what I value about AVSIM and this community.Merry Christmas!Phil

WHEW!!! Al,I'm totally overwhelmed by the extent of your knowledge. Thanks for the input.What I'd really like to ask is how can I get this effect in FSX. Shortly after takeoff,the FO announced we were coming out of the slight turbulence and we were passing 10 thousand feet. That's when I noticed the sun shining,and the clouds below looked like a pure white solid unbroken carpet. Very stunning image after rising up through rain and strong buffeting winds.I only wish I had taken a picture of it !! The sky was COMPLETELY blue,with the sun radiently shining. Is this within the scope of FSX. I have the OD version of REX also.Thanks. Skip d

The REX weather engine might be able to do it and probably can, it certainly has the cloud textures which make it possible, but I suspect you will find that using the REX cloud set in combination with Active Sky's excellent weather engine will give you the best chance of being able to create the effect you are after, since Active Sky has very many options for indulging in whatever you fancy and REX has some brilliant cloud sets which work well with it.Active Sky can add a layer of cloud at any altitude you choose and will let you pick from several types of cloud, these being Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus and Cumulonimbus. Now that might seem somewhat limited in comparison to how many cloud types there are in the real world, but of the four basic types of clouds AS can add, it can make them few, scattered, broken or overcast, and of course you can mix and match multiple layers to create hybrid clouds. Bearing in mind that REX has several distinct types of cloud sets, if you pick a suitable cloud set and put a few cloud layers at the right altitude, it would be possible to create what you were after, but, an even better option would be the fact that Active Sky can create the weather for a known METAR in the past if you type in the date and time, so you could search for a weather report from the day you saw the clouds in question, and then have Active Sky create it that way.Al

Thanks for that info Al. Looking forward to exploring your website when it opens. I'm sure there will be lots of valuable information there.I always look forward to reading any post made by you. Skip d