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Ìý Us cloudspotter typesÌýhave been spoiled lately,Ìýas the November weatherÌýgenerated all manner of spectacular skyscapes across the Westcountry.

Brushed to and fro above us, the clouds have comeÌýin innumerable forms lately,Ìýlike a or Ìýlandscape. This ever-changing natural vistaÌýhas beenÌýcourtesy of an omnipresent jetstreamÌýclose by the British IslesÌýduring recent weeks,Ìýresponsible forÌýtheÌýrun ofÌýunsettled weather.

December has started in largelyÌýsimilar fashion.

Today, a classic polar maritime flow has established from the northwest, bringing not only a chilly feel but also pollution-free skies and some spectacular clouds towering in the unstable air - such as those I've photographed here.

I was treated to some impressive passing swiftly by earlier today. Their tops, up at around 15,000 ft (4570m), were turning readily fibrous and wispy-looking as they became a gargantuan mass of tiny ice crystals (a process called glaciation)Ìýin frigid temperatures up there ofÌý-25 to -30 Celsius. Brrrr...

And the ice wasn't justÌýremaining high above.

These clouds were readily bearing hail and judging from my vantage point, a fair swathe of it was falling for a while across some districts around Bristol and Bath.

You'll find falling hail is actually quite easy to spot and generally simple to differentiate from shafts of falling rain.

In the second image I took - here on the right - notice the very distinctive white appearance of the streaks falling from this storm cell. Often dubbed 'hail streaks' or 'hail curtains', even in fairly low ambient light conditions they tend to be conspicuously white or light grey, compared to the dark grey or shafts of rain that often accompany them. Sometimes, the hail-bearing sections of parent cloud have a distinctive greenish colour.

Talking of rain, we'll be seeing rather a lot of that into the weekend. Late Friday night looks very wet indeed for a time and - just afterÌýSaturday starts on a dry note - a further spell of potentially heavy rain will arrive later in the day and overnight into Sunday.