Cloud Types
What fluffy, white clouds are often called "fair-weather clouds"?
Cumulus
What instrument measures temperature?
Thermometer
Moisture that condenses near the ground when air temperature drops to its dew point.
What is fog?
The sound caused by rapidly expanding air during a lightning strike.
What is thunder?
The rising and sinking of warm and cool air that drives wind and weather.
Convection
Which clouds are thin and wispy, found high in the sky?
Cirrus
What tool measures wind speed?
Anemometer
Ice crystals that form when water vapor freezes high in the atmosphere below 0°C.
What is snow?
Lightning that travels only inside a cloud and makes the cloud glow.
What is intracloud lightning (or sheet lightning)?
Fast-flowing air currents high above the Earth that steer weather systems.
what is Jet Stream
What type of cloud brings thunderstorms and heavy rain?
Cumulonimbus
What instrument measures air pressure?
Barometer
Partially melted snowflakes that refreeze into ice pellets before hitting the ground.
What is sleet?
Floating glowing orbs seen during storms; still mysterious to scientists
What is ball lightning?
The effect that makes one side of a mountain wet and the other dry.
Rain Shadow
Which clouds form a smooth, gray layer that covers the sky?
Stratus
What tool measures the amount of rain that has fallen?
Rain Gauge
Water droplets that fall from clouds after condensation in rising air.
What is rain?
Instruments like radar and satellites use this technology to track precipitation and storms.
What is weather radar?
The reason it’s cooler and wetter in the mountains than the lowlands.
Altitude
What type of cloud is often seen on foggy days?
Stratus
This tool uses radio waves to detect precipitation type, movement, and intensity.
Weather radar
Solid balls of ice formed by supercooled water freezing around dust or ice nuclei. ⛈️
What is hail?
The cause of Earth’s seasons — not its distance from the Sun!
What is the tilt of Earth’s axis?
The global process that moves water through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Water Cycle