Types of CLouds

1. Types of CLouds

2. What am I? • I can be white or gray. • I can bring rain, snow, and hail. • I am high up in the sky. • I can transform into many shapes and sizes.

3. I am a cloud!

4. Why do you think clouds are important?

5. Clouds are important. • Clouds can be very important when determining the weather. • They can cause flooding and blizzards, but they can also bring water to new land. • Without clouds we would not be able to water crops or plants as efficiently. • We also would not have drinking water without them.

6. What are clouds?

7. Clouds • Clouds: are a collection of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in the air. • The color and shape of clouds can give us information about the weather. • Clouds can be categorized by their shape. There are three main types of clouds: • Cumulus, Cirrus , and Stratus. • These clouds can also have the term “nimbus” added if they become gray. This means there may be rain or snow.

8. How do clouds float? • Clouds are formed from a process call condensation. • This is when evaporated water from bodies of water rise into the air and “condense” in the sky. • Clouds can float because they are warmer than the air in the sky when it evaporates. When the water cools down the water droplets can clump together, forming clouds.

9. What makes clouds gray? • Gray clouds are thicker and taller. Because of this they reflect more sunlight which makes them appear gray.

10. Cumulus • Cumulus clouds: are typically puffy on the top and flat on the bottom. • “Cumulo” is the latin word for heap or pile. • Cumulus clouds form less than 2,000 meters up. They can get higher as the water droplets start to stack on one another. • When cumulus clouds darken this mean it is signaling rain or thunder. When this happens the cloud gets the term “nimbus” added and is now cumulonimbus. Cumulus clouds is usually everyone’s favorite. Can you guess why? Cumulonimbus: When a cumulus cloud darkens. This can mean rain or thunder.

11. Stratus • Stratus clouds: are formed in layers. These clouds are often called the “blanket” cloud, because they almost complete cover the sky. • These clouds are usually dull and dreary and often mean rain or snow is in the forecast. • These clouds form below 2,000 meters in the air. When these clouds create rain or snow, they are then called “nimbostratus.” Nimbostratus cloud

12. Cirrus • Cirrus clouds: are very high white and wispy clouds. • These clouds can be anywhere between 7,000 and 14,000 meter up. Because these clouds are high most of the time they are formed with ice crystals. • These clouds usually mean the weather is fair but precipitation can come in a few days.

13. How wind can affect clouds. • Wind can make it hard to tell when rain will fall. • Wind move clouds constantly. Storm clouds can move as slow as 30 mph and others can move as fast as 100 mph.

14. Can there be more than one type of cloud in the sky at the same time?

15. Absolutely! Because wind can affect clouds you might be on one side of town and it be sunny and then when you drive to the other side it could be raining.