When scientists talk about the cryosphere, they mean the places on Earth where water is in its solid form, frozen into ice or snow. Read more ...
Cryosphere Glossary
nimbostratus
a principal cloud type (cloud genus); gray and often dark; rendered diffuse by more or less continuously falling rain, snow, sleet, etc. of the ordinary varieties and not accompanied by lightning, thunder, or hail; precipitation in most cases reaches the ground; may or may not merge with low, ragged clouds that frequently occur below.