Clouds and Elephants

According to ancient Hindu and Buddhist beliefs Cumulus clouds are the spiritual cousins of elephants, which is why the animals are worshipped, with a view to bringing rain after India;'s scorching summer heat. "Megha," meaning cloud in classical Hindi, is the name used to address elephants in these prayers. The Sanskrit creation myths describe how elephants created at the beginning of time were white, had wings to fly, could change their shape at will and had the power to bring rain. Although they have now lost these magical powers, the present-day descendants of those early Uber-elephants are still believed to have an affinity with the clouds -- especially the albino ones.

It is somewhat alarming to learn that eighty elephants weigh about as much as the water droplets in a medium-sized Cumulus -- a Cumulus mediocris -- would if you added them all together. (This is assuming the cloud occupies one cubic kilometre (about 0.24 cubic miles), which is not particularly large for a Cumulus. The droplets will commonly have a combined weight of 220 tons. The average Asian elephant weighs 3 tons.) for, although the droplets in a Cumulus cloud are extremely small, there are one hell of a lot of them. ...

The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

I was sent a review copy of this charming book, which I opened with a good amount of trepidation upon receipt. So far it is a real treasure in a typically eccentric British way, with the science of clouds interwoven with a true love of cloud watching and stories. The science is told in a very understandable way. After all, who can resist the image of a lava lamp to describe how heat acts upon water molecules to make Cumulus clouds? I know I can't.