Why do some clouds appear dark gray? What prorties define cloud color?
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Molecules of water cluster into separate small droplets in a cloud. Importantly: the size of the cloud’s individual water droplets will affect how light interacts. Clouds that scatter lots of light back to your eyes will appear white.
The scattering behavior of the incident sunlight depends very much on the actual size of each droplet. The math is surprisingly complicated, to calculate how much light will penetrate forward, and how much light will scatter at different angles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mie_scattering
Many websites will say that clouds look gray when a thick layer absorbs light. That’s only one issue, not a full explanation. Mie scattering explains how the sun-facing side of storm clouds (having larger water droplets than a nearby white cloud) can also look gray — even when receiving direct sunlight.
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