8.

2 Clouds and Fog

How Clouds Form

Air rises and expands Air cools as it expands (adiabatic cooling) Temperature drops to dew point at a certain level of altitude Clouds condense into tiny water droplets
Water droplets measure between 0.01 mm and 0.02 mm in diameter A period on a page is 0.5 mm in diameter

Naming Clouds
Meteorologists use Latin words to describe clouds
Cumulo means a heap
Accumulate

Nimbus means cloud Stratus means to extend

Strait, straight, strata, stratify

Alto means high

Altitude, alto saxophone

Cirrus means curls of hair

Low Altitude Clouds

Cumulus
White, billowy clouds like cotton puffs Warm, rising moist air expands and hits dew point Grow vertically Form in morning, large by noon, gone by eve

 Cumulonimbus
Strong updrafts help form these violent storms Produce heavy rain or hail, strong winds, lightening, tornadoes Low altitude base, sometimes reach as high as tropopause

 Stratus
Flat, gray layer of heavy clouds Featureless Covers whole sky Large body of warm, moist air rises gradually May produce light rain or snow

 Stratocumulus
Most frequent clouds Low, heavy layer of puffy gray clouds Typically precipitation-free

Mid Level
Nimbostratus
Much thicker than stratus clouds Entirely block the view of the sun or moon Steady precipitation

 Altocumulus
Smaller version of stratocumulus due to high altitude Appear as parallel rows in sky

 Altostratus
Lighter than stratus clouds Do not produce precipitation Typically do not fully block the sun or moon

High Level
Cirrus curl of hair
Called mares tales by sailors Made of ice crystals Blown into feathery streamers by tropospheric winds

 Cirrocumulus
Uncommon pattern of high-level clouds Align in rows resembling fish scales Sometimes referred to as a mackerel sky

 Cirrostratus
Thin, veil-like, translucent clouds spread thin like a sheet Form the appearance of a large halo around the sun or moon

Special Clouds
Contrails
Formed from the jets exhaust Water vapor condenses and freezes Contrails last longer if relative humidity is high

 Lenticular
Form on or above mountains Sometimes mistaken for UFOs