Vocab
A collection of small water droplets or ice crystals that are suspended in the air.
What is a cloud?
a cloud very near the surface of Earth
What is fog?
If it rained all day but stopped and then cooled down considerably at night, what weather phenomenon would you likely see that night?
Fog
These clouds form in stable air, and are flat.
What is a stratus cloud?
What are the 4 classes of clouds based on altitude?
Low clouds,
Middle clouds,
High clouds,
Clouds of vertical development.
Clouds absorb some of the heat that is emitted from Earth’s surface. How does this process affect the temperature of Earth’s surface?
This process warms Earth’s surface.
These clouds are formed in unstable air, and are like cotton and puffy.
What is a cumulus cloud?
What is the role of tiny, suspended particles in the atmosphere in cloud formation?
Suspended particles provide a surface on which water droplets can form.
How are clouds formed?
Clouds form when rising air is cooled to the dew point temperature and water vapor changes from gas to a liquid.
These clouds are thin and wispy and are blown by high winds into long streamers. They indicate good weather.
What is a cirrus cloud?
What is frontal lift?
When different air masses meet, the warmer air is forced upwards by the denser, cold air.
How do low clouds differ from high clouds?
Because low clouds are close to Earth’s surface, they are made up of water droplets. High clouds form at higher altitudes and are made up of ice crystals.
When the temperature at which the rate of condensation equals the rate of evaporation.
What is dew point?
What is orographic lifting?
When an obstacle, such as a mountain range, forces a mass of air upward.
How can the effect of clouds be like a blanket?
Clouds trap heat that is escaping from Earth’s surface into space, much as a blanket traps body heat. The clouds radiate the heat back to Earth’s surface and Earth’s lower atmosphere. Clouds keep the temperature from dropping lower than it would if the sky was clear.