I’m a 15 year old student at Burnside High School in Christchurch, New Zealand. I’m really passionate about meteorology, specifically clouds and have created a website in their honour. I’ve also created my own cloud classification chart using the information from the WMO website.

I first got bit by the weather bug when I was 10 years old, fascinated by the unpredictability of Christchurch’s weather. Although meteorology on the whole rapidly climbed to the tops of my figurative “passion tree” there was no doubt that clouds were what really drew me in.

My cloud website was created in the 2014/15 school year, our class had to complete a “Project of Passion” and I knew in an instant that this would be mine. I must admit, I spent a lot of time with my head in a book, as opposed to the clouds, until I had exhausted the whole library of weather and cloud books! Armed with a new camera and the ropes of cloud spotting, my website came alive: a collection of cloud heaven, a plethora of colours, shapes and contrasts.

From my first cloud photo – a combination of mare’s tails (cirrus uncinus) and altocumulus, with the cirrus justifying the drizzle which followed – to my more recent snaps, my love for clouds have remained a constant.

To this day, I’m still caught on that weather bug and grateful, as weird as it may sound, for all those cloudy days! That’s right – I’m a nature buff and proud!

My favourite cloud books:

• Clouds that Look Like Things and The Cloudspotter’s Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds (Gavin Pretor-Pinney)
• The Cloud Book (Richard Hamblin)
• The New Zealand Weather Book (Erick Brenstrum)