Mackerel sky
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A mackerel sky consists of multiple rows of cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds in an undulating, rippling pattern resembling fish scales and caused by high altitude atmospheric waves.
Altocumulus mackerel sky
Norwegian Mackerel displaying the skin pattern of a mackerel sky
Mackerel sky over Erlangen, Germany
Mackerel sky over Metung, Victoria, Australia
Cirrus uncinus cloud
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Cirrus uncinus is a type of cirrus cloud. The name cirrus uncinus is Latin for "curly hooks". Commonly called "mare's tail", this cloud species is very thin and generally sparse in the sky.
Mackerel sky
…front or low front has moved closer and it may start raining within less than six hours. The old rhymes "Mackerel sky, not twenty-four hours dry" and "Mares' tails and mackerel scales make lofty ships to carry low sails" both refer to this long-recognized phenomenon. Other phrases in weather lore take mackerel…
Cirrus uncinus cloud
Cirrus uncinus clouds over Salinas Victoria, Nuevo León, Mexico
Cirrus uncinus clouds in the morning sky over Nandli, Himachal Pradesh, India