What does ceiling mean in weather?

The ceiling is the height of the lowest layer of overcast clouds or broken clouds that cover most of the sky (looking from the ground upwards), This height is measured at automated weather stations (AWOS) by a very expensive device called a ceilometer. The cloud height is recorded in feet above ground level.Click to see full answer. Similarly one may ask, what does low ceilings mean in weather?In weather and aviation it means low hanging fairly continuous clouds. Like the ceiling of a room. Anything below about 1000 ft AGL could qualify as a low ceiling.Furthermore, are Broken clouds a ceiling? When Federal Air Regulations refer to “ceilings” for weather minimums, the FAA defines a ceiling as: “The height of the lowest layer of clouds above the surface that are either broken or overcast, but not thin.” But since METAR and SPECI observations don’t include the term “thin,” anything reported as broken or what is considered a cloud ceiling? Ceiling (cloud) In aviation, ceiling is a measurement of the height of the base of the lowest clouds (not to be confused with cloud base which has a specific definition) that cover more than half of the sky (more than 4 oktas) relative to the ground.What is the difference between cloud base and cloud ceiling?Clouds, in a METAR have their bases defined as height above ground level. That’s for all clouds regardless of opacity. A ceiling is defined as any cloud base obscuring more than a certain amount of the sky, either given as BKN or OVC. Therefore, a ceiling is simply the base of cloud for which BKN or OVC is given.