Clouds
Clouds are collections of tiny water drops or ice particles that float in the air.
Clouds form when water vapor molecules condense or turn back into liquid.
When water evaporates from Earth, it rises up into the atmosphere.
Temperatures decrease or get colder as you go higher in the troposphere. So
when the water vapor rises, it starts to cool down and condense onto tiny dust
particles floating in the air. As more water vapor condenses, the tiny drops of
water form a cloud. The color of a cloud lets you know how much water it
contains. The darker the cloud, the more water. There are three main types of
clouds: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus.
Stratus clouds form at low altitudes below two thousand feet. They are flat
layers of gray clouds. They seem to blanket the Earth, allowing almost no
sunshine to get through. These clouds may be responsible for long periods of
drizzling rain or snow. Fog is a stratus cloud that forms close to the ground.
Cumulus clouds are large, puffy, white clouds. They start forming at
approximately 2000 feet and extend upward to 4000 feet. Cumulus clouds look
like cotton balls in the sky and often have form interesting shapes. Cumulus
clouds may be associated with fair weather. If a cumulus cloud grows, it can
turn into a cumulonimbus clouds. These are large, gray clouds that are very tall
and often produce thunderstorms.
Cirrus clouds form at the highest altitude, over 20,000 feet. They are feathery,
white clouds made of ice crystals. Because they form at such high altitudes,
the air temperature is cold enough for the water drops to freeze into ice crystals.
They usually indicate fair weather.
While these are the basic types of clouds, there are several combinations
depending on the altitude and shape of the clouds. Stratocumulus clouds form
in patches with blue sky in between them. Nimbostratus clouds usually produce
steady precipitation. Cirrocumulus clouds are smaller puffs of clouds that are
higher in the sky.
Clouds are an important part of the water cycle because they return water to
Earth.
Clouds
1. What are clouds?
________________________________________________________________________
2. What causes clouds to form? __________________________________________
3. What happens to water after it evaporates from Earth?
________________________________________________________________________
4. What do water molecules condense onto? ___________________________
5. Which clouds form at the lowest altitude? ______________________________
6. Which clouds form in the middle, between 2000 and 4000 feet? _________
7. Which clouds form at the highest altitude? _____________________________
8. Which clouds look like puffy cotton balls? ______________________________
9. Which clouds cover the sky like a blanket? _____________________________
10. Which clouds are feather-like and thin? ________________________________
11. Fog is an example of what type of cloud? ______________________________
12. Why are cirrus clouds made of ice crystals but cumulus and stratus clouds
are not?
_______________________________________________________________________
13. What is the name of clouds that produce thunderstorms?
__________________________________________
14. What type of weather is associated with each type of cloud:
a. Stratus - _____________________________________________
b. Cumulus - ____________________________________________
c. Cirrus - _______________________________________________
15. Why are clouds important?
________________________________________________________________________
Put the steps of cloud formation in order by putting a 1 beside what happened
first, then 2 beside the 2nd and so on…..
_______The cloud becomes too heavy with water and it rains
________Condensed water molecules join together to form a cloud
________Water evaporates from Earth’s surface
________Water droplets condense on tiny dust particles in the atmosphere
________As water vapor rises, it cools and the molecules move slower
Draw a picture of each type of cloud and put them in order based
on where they form in the atmosphere (lowest to highest).