How do clouds form?

1. How do clouds form?

2. How do clouds form? • Clouds form when water vapor in the air condenses to form liquid water or ice crystals. (pg 57)

3. What do we need to make a cloud? • Water vapor • Air temperature at Dew Point • The presence of other particles • Dust • Smoke • Sea salt • pollution

4. How are clouds classified? Scientists use 2 traits to classify clouds: • Shape • Altitude

5. Classifying by SHAPE • Clouds (like galaxies) are classified by their shape: • Cirrus (feathery) • Cumulus (fluffy) • Stratus (layered; blanket-like)

6. Classifying by ALTITUDE • Use prefixes to tell what altitude clouds form at • Strato- low • Alto- middle • Cirro- high

7. 6 cloud types 3 major cloud types: • Cirrus • Stratus • Cumulus Other: • Cumulonimbus • Nimbostratus • Fog

8. Task • Your task is to work with your group members to research the following in your textbook: • Description of the cloud (what it looks like) • The weather it brings • A sketch of the cloud

9. Cirrus clouds • Type: cirrus • Description: feathery; made of ice crystals • Weather: fair • Usually form very high in the troposphere

10. Stratus clouds • Type: stratus • Description: layered, blanket-like • Weather: precipitation likely

11. Cumulus clouds Type: cumulus Description: puffyWeather: fair

12. Cumulonimbus clouds • Type: cumulonimbus • Description: towering • Weather: thunderstorms

13. The “Anvil” shape occurs when the cloud hits the edge of the troposphere and flattens out.

14. Name: Nimbostratus Description: a stratus cloud that IS precipitating Weather: It’s raining! (duh)

15. Fog • Name: Fog • Description: “ground cloud” • Weather: it depends (variable)

16. Stratocumulus clouds(puffy + spread out)

17. The “Alto”s- clouds that form at middle altitudes Altostratus Altocumulus Alto- clouds form below cirrus clouds but are still above a tenor!