I have always known that high wispy cirrus cloud means that a front is coming and rain will be coming soon but yesterday I was able to watch it happening with reference to a diagram in a book. This is what I saw. First came the cirrostratus.
Behind was some altocumulus on the right, followed by altostratus which was a solid layer covering the whole sky.
The photographs were taken at 4 o'clock and it rained heavily at 9 o'clock. These clouds are typical of a warm front coming in off the Atlantic. I wonder if similar systems occur in other parts of the world like Australia?