Clouds & Precipitation Notes/Vocabulary

How do clouds form?  when warm air & cold air meet, cold air pushes up the warm air and a cloud can form  when air rises and cools, the water vapor in the air condenses into tiny water droplets and forms a cloud  If the temperature is below the freezing point, a cloud will form out of tiny ice crystals  In order for water vapor to condense, it must have something to attach to. Do you know what that something is? (answer on the next slide)

dust

1. stratus clouds  A cloud that forms a blanket-like layer  Stratus: It's Latin for "covering" or "blanket." Stratus clouds look like a flat blanket in the sky.  When there is an overcast the entire sky is covered in clouds.

2. cumulus clouds  a puffy cloud that appears to rise up from a flat bottom  Cumulus: In Latin, this means "heap." Cumulus clouds look like a heap of cotton balls or whipped cream.

3. cirrus clouds  a high altitude cloud with a featherlike shape, made of ice crystals  Cirrus: It's Latin for "curl." Cirrus clouds look like curls of white hair.

4. Nimbo or nimbus  prefix or suffix added to the name of a cloud that means precipitaion came from it  Nimbo or nimbus might be used with cumulus or stratus to indicate a cloud formation that is producing rain. These clouds could be either cumulonimbus which would be a puffy, vertically- rising rain cloud or nimbostratus which would be a sheet or flat-looking rain cloud.

5. fog  a cloud at ground level

6. precipitation  any form of water particles that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the ground  hail forms in tall clouds **check out this website after reading pgs. D40-D49** Click on “Observe” and then see if you can pass the quiz.

7. transpiration  process where leaves release water vapor into the air

Cloud Game **Play the cloud game**