What Are Those Big Puffy Things And How Did They Form?

Oh Yeah I Know They Are Clouds!!!!! =)

How Do Clouds Form?

 The air is filled with water vapor (small water droplets or ice crystals, this water vapor is what makes up a cloud)  When the air is cooled the Water Vapor Condenses.  The water molecules/ droplets clump together around dust and other particles in the air to form droplets of water.

So Why Do Clouds Look Different?

 Water droplet clouds tend to have sharp, well defined edges. If the cloud is very thick, it may look gray, or even black.

 The cloud gets its color by how much light is allowed to pass through it.

 Ice crystal clouds tend to have fuzzy, less distinct edges. They also look whiter.

 ALL clouds form in the TROPOSPHERE!

What are the Names of the Clouds?

 Stratus Clouds are blanket like clouds

Cumulus Clouds

 Cumulus Clouds are clouds that are puffy and appear to rise from a flat bottom.

Cirrus Clouds

 Cirrus Clouds form at very high altitudes out of ice crystals and have a wispy, featherlike shape.

What is that Strange Word?

 If water falls from a cloud in the form of rain or snow the term

Nimbo

or

Nimbus

is attached to the end of the clouds name.

Clouds have Families?

 Clouds are grouped into families by height and form.

 Low clouds are close to the ground  Middle Clouds are in the middle of the Troposphere.

 High Clouds are up high.

 Some clouds build upwards (vertically)

Cumulonimbus

   Cumulonimbus clouds develop upward. These clouds bring thunderstorms.

They can start low and build to the highest layer of the atmosphere.

Help I Can’t See!!!!

   FOG is a ground level cloud. Fog is formed by moist air that has cooled at the ground.

As the Fog heats up it rises and eventually breaks apart back into water vapor.

What is the Wet Stuff?

 Precipitation is any form of water particles that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the ground.

 Precipitation can be in the form of a liquid (rain) or in the form of a solid (snow)

What makes up a cloud?

 Clouds are made up of tine water droplets or ice-crystals that are only 1/50 of a millimeter across.  The particles are so light that they remain “hanging” in the air.

 The particles are so light, that they prevent a cloud from raining.

How does Precipitation occur?

 Each of the dust particles is like a nucleus that the water molecules condense around.

 Precipitation happens when the particles join together and become so heavy that they fall back to the ground.

What does the type of Cloud have to do with Precipitation?

   In tall clouds there is more chance for droplets to run into one another and combine which will make larger raindrops.

Cumulus clouds often produce heavy rain or snow showers that do not last for long periods of time.

Stratus clouds produce smaller rain drops and the showers usually last for long periods of time

Continued…..

    Clouds with vertical development hold a lot of water.

These types of clouds normally hold very violent weather.

The tops of vertical developing clouds usually reach heights were it is below freezing.

They often produce strong downpours and occasionally hail.

What is Hail?

Hail

     Hail is pellets or lumps of ice.

Clouds have updrafts with strong winds that move up inside the cloud.

Hail forms when updrafts in the cloud hurl ice pellets upward again and again.

As pellets fall they become coated with water, when they rise back up the pellets freeze causing the ice pellets to get larger and larger.

The more violent the updraft the larger the hail.

Why Would a flood be good News?

 In Ancient Egypt, the Nile would flood and leave rich deposits of sediment which in turn help the crops grow.

 Can you think of why a flood would be good for us as an society?

 What are ways we can stop floods from happening?