Types of Clouds Geography

Most clouds can be divided into groups (high/middle/low) based on the height of the cloud's base above the Earth's surface. Other clouds are grouped not by their height, but by their unique characteristics, such as forming alongside mountains (Lenticular clouds) or forming beneath existing clouds (Mammatus clouds).

High Clouds
5 - 13 km (16,000 - 43,000 ft)

Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds in the sky, however they are not associated with weather like the rest of the clouds.
Example: Cirrus, Cirrocumulus 

Middle Clouds
2 - 7 km (7,000 - 23,000 ft)
Example: Altocumulus, Altostratus 

Low Clouds
Surface - 2 km (surface - 7,000 ft)
Example: Stratus, Nimbostratus, Stratocumulus 

Clouds with Vertical Growth
Surface - 13 km (surface - 43,000 ft)
Clouds that grow up instead of spreading out across the sky.
Example: Cumulus, Cumulonimbus 

Unusual Clouds
Clouds that form in unique ways and are not grouped by height.
Example: Lenticular, Kelvin-Helmhoitz, Mammatus

Contrails
5 - 13 km (16,000 - 43, 000 ft)
Example: Contrails

The cloud heights provided above are for the mid-latitudes. Cloud heights are different at the tropics and in the polar regions. In addition, a few other cloud types are found in higher layers of the atmosphere. Polar stratospheric clouds are located in a layer of the atmosphere called the stratosphere. Polar mesospheric clouds, which are also called noctilucent clouds, are located in the atmospheric layer called the mesosphere.