Download Clouds PPT

What Are Those Big Puffy
Things And How Did They
Form?
Oh Yeah I Know They Are
Clouds!!!!! =)
How Do Clouds Form?
The air is filled with water vapor (small
water droplets or ice crystals, this water
vapor is what makes up a cloud)
 When the air is cooled the Water Vapor
Condenses.
 The water molecules/ droplets clump
together around dust and other particles
in the air to form droplets of water.

So Why Do Clouds Look Different?
Water droplet clouds tend to have sharp,
well defined edges. If the cloud is very
thick, it may look gray, or even black.
 The cloud gets its color by how much light
is allowed to pass through it.
 Ice crystal clouds tend to have fuzzy, less
distinct edges. They also look whiter.
 ALL clouds form in the TROPOSPHERE!

What are the Names of the Clouds?

Stratus Clouds are
blanket like clouds
Cumulus Clouds

Cumulus Clouds are
clouds that are puffy
and appear to rise
from a flat bottom.
Cirrus Clouds

Cirrus Clouds form at
very high altitudes
out of ice crystals and
have a wispy,
featherlike shape.
What is that Strange Word?

If water falls from a cloud in the form of
rain or snow the term
Nimbo or
Nimbus is attached to the end of the
clouds name.
Clouds have Families?
Clouds are grouped into families by height
and form.
 Low clouds are close to the ground
 Middle Clouds are in the middle of the
Troposphere.
 High Clouds are up high.
 Some clouds build upwards (vertically)

Cumulonimbus
Cumulonimbus clouds
develop upward.
 These clouds bring
thunderstorms.
 They can start low
and build to the
highest layer of the
atmosphere.

Help I Can’t See!!!!
FOG is a ground level
cloud.
 Fog is formed by
moist air that has
cooled at the ground.
 As the Fog heats up it
rises and eventually
breaks apart back into
water vapor.

What is the Wet Stuff?
Precipitation is any form of water particles
that falls from the atmosphere and
reaches the ground.
 Precipitation can be in the form of a liquid
(rain) or in the form of a solid (snow)

What makes up a cloud?
Clouds are made up of tine water droplets
or ice-crystals that are only 1/50 of a
millimeter across.
 The particles are so light that they remain
“hanging” in the air.
 The particles are so light, that they
prevent a cloud from raining.

How does Precipitation occur?
Each of the dust particles is like a nucleus
that the water molecules condense
around.
 Precipitation happens when the particles
join together and become so heavy that
they fall back to the ground.

What does the type of Cloud have to
do with Precipitation?
In tall clouds there is more chance for
droplets to run into one another and
combine which will make larger raindrops.
 Cumulus clouds often produce heavy rain
or snow showers that do not last for long
periods of time.
 Stratus clouds produce smaller rain drops
and the showers usually last for long
periods of time

Continued…..
Clouds with vertical development hold a
lot of water.
 These types of clouds normally hold very
violent weather.
 The tops of vertical developing clouds
usually reach heights were it is below
freezing.
 They often produce strong downpours and
occasionally hail.

What is Hail?
Hail





Hail is pellets or lumps of ice.
Clouds have updrafts with strong winds that
move up inside the cloud.
Hail forms when updrafts in the cloud hurl ice
pellets upward again and again.
As pellets fall they become coated with water,
when they rise back up the pellets freeze
causing the ice pellets to get larger and larger.
The more violent the updraft the larger the hail.
Why Would a flood be good News?
In Ancient Egypt, the Nile would flood and
leave rich deposits of sediment which in
turn help the crops grow.
 Can you think of why a flood would be
good for us as an society?
 What are ways we can stop floods from
happening?
