Olé, olé, on this sizzling Thursday.

We’re feelin’ hot hot hot.

And you will, too, today. It’ll feel as warm as 97 degrees, and a heat advisory remains in effect until 8 p.m.

So we turn to the clouds to distract us from the heat.

“The clouds tell a story,” said John Homenuk, the founder of New York Metro Weather, a local weather website.

Today, you will most likely see cirrus clouds, which are wispy, silky-looking, high-level clouds resembling white brush strokes on a blue canvas. “You’ll get those on days when the weather is transitioning,” Mr. Homenuk said. (In today’s case, that means the shift from sunny skies in the morning to possible thunderstorms this afternoon and evening.)

On a cool and damp day, you will probably see stratus clouds, an example of a foggy, low-level cloud. “They’re thick and they can cause drizzle,” Mr. Homenuk said, and they can look like gray cotton candy.