The story
From cirro- + stratus, coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
cirrostratus
cir·ro·stra·tusToday it means: A principal high-level cloud type appearing as a whitish veil, usually fibrous but sometimes smooth, which may totally cover the sky and which often produces halo phenomena. Full definition →