TIROS I photographs taken near the most intense stage of a cut-off cyclone over the eastern Pacific are examined relative to the standard observations and analyses in the area. Broad cloud bands seen in the southwestern portions of the cyclone have been found to be nearly perpendicular to the wind direction at both the surface and aloft, and to consist mainly of cumuliform cloudiness whose tops did not extend more than about 5,000 ft. above the sea surface. Examination of the photographs relative to the conventional frontal analysis and to vertical motions computed by a numerical prediction model suggests that satellite cloud pictures can lead to improvements in the standard analyses of surface and upper-air charts.