Editing 2185: Cumulonimbus

: The second panel shows a {{w|cumulonimbus cloud}}, from the Latin for "heaping raincloud", with the upper part about the same size as the lower part. Though somewhat like the cumulus cloud, it is more prone to causing rain and lightning. Cumulonimbus clouds, like cumulus clouds, grow vertically because of their moist warm air, but they have enough energy to  reach the top of the {{w|troposphere}}, giving them the distinctive anvil shape shown in the comic and their tendency to produce nasty weather.

: The third panel shows an even bigger cloud and names it cumulonimbulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy raincloud"). Here the scientific facts end and the humor begins. The cloud has the upper part about twice as large as the lower part. The humor here comes from building up an even bigger name by adding another "nimbus" element for the cloud as its size increases, suggesting that its growth as compared to the second cloud shown has made it even more "rainy".

: The fourth panel shows an absurdly large cloud with three major layers and gives it the name cumulonimbulonimbulocumulonimbus (Latin for "heaping rainy rainy heaping raincloud"). This is a combination of the third and second cloud names in this comic, and indeed the fourth cloud looks a lot like the second one emerging out of the top of the third. This cloud may look like a [[220: Philosophy|super soaker]], ready to spray water on everyone, or perhaps a faucet ready to open and pour water down.

: The title text takes this comic to its logical extreme by naming a new cloud that has the longest name of them all and is also supposedly the rarest. Its name can be translated as "mid-altitude, heaped, lense-shaped, layered, grey, rainy, wispy, breast-like and lit at night". It mentions a common joke in weather communities, making fun of the common [https://youtu.be/WMtAaETOVSY?t=448 trope] that thunderstorms form when "warm moist air" meets "cold dry air," an extreme oversimplification. A complicated cloud needs complicated processes, so Randall adds in "cold slippery air," then {{w|curse}}d air and {{w|nanobots}}, which makes the cloud impossible since neither of those exist.{{Citation needed}}

:The name of this cloud is a {{w|Compound (linguistics)|compound}} of the following cloud names:

:{{w|Cirrus cloud|cirrus}}: a cloud that looks like thin, wispy strands.

:"lenticulo" gets repeated, perhaps indicating that there's a second disc in the cloud.

:{{w|mammatus}}: a breast-like cloud structure that forms at the bottom of some thunderstorm clouds, which signifies sinking air and is associated with severe storm activity and, in the central United States, tornado formation.

The {{w|International Cloud Atlas}} defines the cloud types that are recognized by the WMO, the {{w|World Meteorological Organization}}. It was first published in 1896. Similarly, {{w|IUPAC}} publishes a manual that allows chemists to name chemical compounds in a consistent manner. The Altocumulenticulostratonimbulocirruslenticulomammanoctilucent may thus be a pun on IUPAC, which (theoretically) offers a unique name for each possible strand of DNA and other complex molecules (such as [[wikt:Appendix:List of protologisms/Long words/Titin|Titin]]). Therefore, Randall might have seen a unique cloud that has never been observed before, but yet, thanks to IUPAC-like cloud naming rules, he came up with a "valid" name for his observation.