Cloud 9

Cloud 9 is the meteorological classification for this... a cumulonimbus (meaning 'heap', 'rain'), that extends 20,000ft into the air, sometimes even higher. This cloud erupted yesterday afternoon from above the English Channel, and once it hit the top of the Tropopause spread its anvil ice cloud across RSPB Dungness and deep into Kent. The energy released by a single cloud of this proportion is equal to 57% of the total annual output of the Dungeness B power station nestling in its shadow. Nature always does it bigger and better, but how to harness that energy?