clouds & precipitation notes/vocabulary. how do clouds form? when warm air & cold air meet,...

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** http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/index.htm 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**http://www.cityofportsmouth.com/school/dondero/msm/weather/game.html