Its purpose is to transform a casual glance at the sky into a regular observation practice. The media discusses clouds and invites the reader to participate: to look, photograph, describe what they see, and add their own observations to a shared archive.

The project is centered around a website, a Telegram channel, and a Telegram bot. The website occasionally publishes articles about cloudwatching practices, viewed through the lens of various cultural fields. An archive of user observations is gradually built there. Through the bot, readers can submit a photo from their practice, along with the location, time, and commentary. After moderation, the observation appears in the archive and potentially in the Telegram channel.

Segment: slow media about everyday nature observation.

This is fundamentally not: — standard meteorological media with forecasts; — a scientific encyclopedia of clouds; — a photography community competing for the perfect shot; — a social media feed of beautiful sunsets.

Niche focus: cloudwatching—observing clouds as an everyday practice at the intersection of visual culture, natural sciences, photography, and amateur interest.

1. Cloud Appreciation Society — the main competitor and primary reference.

This is an international «society for people who love the sky.» The project combines media, a club, a photo gallery, an application, educational activities, and a user community.

The homepage simultaneously features Cloud-a-Day, Cloud of the Month, participant photos, and the Memory Cloud Atlas. The project also has a dedicated application, CloudSpotter: it teaches users to identify 58 types of cloud formations and optical phenomena, allows them to build their own collection of observations, and lets them view sightings from other participants.

Their strengths include a massive accumulated archive, a strong community, authority, and the fusion of science with amateur observation, alongside recurring rituals like Cloud-a-Day.

What we can learn from them is their presentation of cloudwatching as a practice rather than just a reference guide; fostering user participation; incorporating regular, small-scale formats; and associating a photograph with its location and classification.

Where we can differentiate ourselves: CAS is a vast, international, English-language ecosystem and leans more toward a «sky-loving community» than a niche editorial media outlet. Our project can be significantly more local, more authorially curated, Russian-language, and Telegram-native.

2. Cloud Point

A very close functional competitor. It is a mobile application that combines cloud identification, photography, educational content, and its own community feed.

A user takes a picture, gets the cloud type identification, and can submit the photo to the community.

The latest versions already allow users to view a full-screen observation feed; see the cloud type and geography; vote on the classification of others' photos; receive a «Confirmed» badge; and filter the community by cloud type.

Strengths: The «saw $\rightarrow$ photographed $\rightarrow$ identified $\rightarrow$ shared» mechanism is extremely streamlined.

Weaknesses: Primarily, it is a utility app, not a media platform. It lacks a significant editorial or cultural layer.

Reviews also reveal an important contradiction: users enjoy the community and the act of observing, but they become frustrated by the complex onboarding, technical issues, and inaccurate automated identification. Our takeaway: we should not force a person to install a separate application and go through a difficult ritual just to view one cloud. A Telegram bot is much simpler here.

3. r/CLOUDS

This is a Reddit user community that, in terms of attention-seeking, is a direct competitor.

The feed consists almost entirely of user-submitted photographs, featuring prompts like «look what I just saw, ” „what kind of cloud is this?“ or „what does this look like?“

This reveals a highly useful demand pattern. In 2026, ordinary photos and questions about clouds regularly garner hundreds and thousands of reactions; one specific post featuring a cloud photo and the question, „is this even a cloud?“ amassed over four thousand upvotes.

One user accurately described the community’s appeal: there is almost no self-promotion or gatekeeping—most people post a beautiful cloud, and others respond with „cool cloud, ” occasionally adding a scientific explanation.

What can be taken from this is the extremely low barrier to entry. A user doesn’t need to know the term Altocumulus lenticularis.

1. What’s This Cloud

This is a well-designed visual guide for cloud identification. Its goal is to make a rather complex international classification system understandable to the average person. The project utilizes real photographs, original illustrations, step-by-step lessons, a blog, and a free 136-page book.

https://whatsthiscloud.com/about-us

2. NASA / GLOBE Observer CloudsThis is citizen science.
   The user observes the sky and records geographical data, cloud cover, surface conditions, cloud types, transparency, visibility, and photographs.These observations are then available to other participants and can be used to interpret NASA satellite data.Strength: the photograph becomes a structured observation rather than just an image.The scientific protocol is intimidating, but the basic principle of metadata collection can be adopted.

3. International Cloud Atlas / WMOThis is the benchmark scientific classification system. In it, clouds are described using genera, species, classification features, and other attributes. Cloud Atlas successfully addresses the scientific need to name a cloud, but it entirely fails to address our media’s goal: a cultural reflection on cloudwatching.Our project can sit precisely between the WMO and the everyday person—it does not need to discard scientific classification, but rather allow another language to coexist alongside it.

1. Windy

Windy is interesting not only for its forecasts: the service develops a global network of weather webcams, a preview map, and an archive of images. Currently, Premium allows users to view the camera’s history from the last ten minutes to images spanning its entire existence.

In other words, they already have a giant infrastructure for observing the sky. If Windy ever adds community-cloudspotting, it will become a very strong competitor.

2. Yandex Weather

Yandex already has a very familiar daily weather scenario for Russian-speaking audiences: hourly forecasts, precipitation maps, and user-submitted weather reports. According to the service itself, over 3 million people report weather conditions daily. Yandex

This demonstrates that the mass user is willing to participate in simple citizen observation if the action takes only a few seconds.

For now, Yandex Weather’s task is purely utilitarian—“what to wear / will it rain?» Our project proposes the opposite action: observing the sky not because you need something from it.

3. Atlas Obscura

This is a competitor not in product, but in the way they engage attention. Atlas Obscura builds its media around strange, obscure, and unusual global phenomena; they have a dedicated category for weird weather phenomena, and they have materials specifically about cloud observation.

Atlas Obscura is a good reference for tone of voice: do not turn a strange subject into a joke, but rather approach it with a blend of seriousness and a touch of the eccentric.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/weird-weather-phenomena

The market isn’t empty—but it is fragmented. There are: — academic classifiers lacking a community; — photography communities without editorial oversight; — citizen science lacking a cultural layer; — applications without comprehensive media features; — international projects without a local Russian-language context.

In open Russian-language search, I failed to find any notable specialized media outlet that simultaneously connected: cloudwatching + editorial content + user observations + archive + Telegram mechanics.

Main Channel — TelegramThe Telegram channel serves as the media’s pulse. It is the place where people regularly encounter the project: — short observations; — new user photographs; — brief scientific explanations; — editorial announcements; — prompts to look up; — interactivity results; — «What do you see here?», open comments.

Telegram is particularly well-suited because cloudwatching is inherently situational. It is not a topic people visit a separate website for every day. However, a post like: «Moscow, 2:23 PM. There is a very strange Altocumulus in the southwest right now (with a link explaining what it is). Take a look up» can genuinely prompt them to step outside to the window.

The website is the main repository. It should not duplicate Telegram.

Its primary function is archival.

It contains: — observation archives; — long-form articles; — a map (?); — curated selections; — interactive projects; — classifications.

Telegram is the stream. The website is the archive.

Telegram Bot — Participation InterfaceThe bot is not an auxiliary channel, but the gateway to the editorial team.
Minimal user flow:
Send photo → determine geolocation/city → verify date and time → add comment → agree to publication → editorial moderation.After approval, the photo appears on the website, may be shared on Telegram, and the author receives a link.

Persona 1. Casual Observer — primary Target AudienceContext.
— Spends a lot of time in front of a screen, walks through the same city, sometimes photographs unusual skies, but those photos usually just stay in the phone gallery.
— He does not consider himself someone «who is passionate about clouds.»
— One day, he sees a very strange shape, photographs it, and wants to show it to someone.Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
When I notice something beautiful or strange in the sky, I want a reason to stop and share it with people who might notice it too.Barrier
He does not want to:
— study classification;
— sign up for a specialized forum;
— download a meteorological app.Media Value
Very low barrier to entry:
just look and send the photo.This is the core segment because it is from the casual observer that the project has the potential to create a regular cloudwatcher.

Persona 2. The Visual CollectorThis is a photographer, designer, artist, or simply someone who has a habit of saving visual things.
Their phone is already full of sky photographs that they feel reluctant to delete.For them, clouds are first and foremost form, color, composition, and a constantly shifting image.Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
When I see a rare visual state of the sky, I want to save it and place it in a context where the image has meaning, rather than just sitting in a gallery.Value
— publication;
— authorship;
— archive;
— collections;
— metadata;
— the ability to see their observation alongside others.This segment will become one of the main sources of UGC.