Editing Nimbostratus cloud (section)

==Origin of name==
{{further|Cloud#History of cloud science and nomenclature}}

Under [[Luke Howard]]'s first systematized study of clouds, carried out in France in 1802, three general cloud ''forms'' were established based on appearance and characteristics of formation: ''cirriform,'' ''cumuliform'' and ''stratiform.'' These were further divided into upper and lower types depending on altitude. In addition to these three main types, Howard added two names to designate multiple cloud types joined together: ''cumulostratus,'' a blending of cumulus clouds and stratus layers, and ''nimbus,'' a complex blending of cirriform, cumuliform, and stratiform clouds with sufficient vertical development to produce significant precipitation.

Later, in the 20th century, an IMC{{clarify|What is this?|date=June 2019}} commission for the study of clouds put forward a refined and more restricted definition of the genus nimbus, effectively reclassifying it as a stratiform cloud type. It was then renamed ''nimbostratus,'' and published with the new name in the 1932 edition of the ''International Atlas of Clouds and of States of the Sky''. This left cumulonimbus as the only nimboform type as indicated by its root name.