Clouds

A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.

What are clouds?

All air contains water, but near the ground it is a gas called water vapor. When the sun warms the surface of the Earth, the warm air rises and cools. Cool air can’t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so come of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air forming a tiny droplet. When billions of these droplets come together, they form a visible cloud!

How are clouds formed?

Clouds are white because their water droplets are large enough to scatter or reflect all the different colors of sun light (rainbow colors) that when combined appear as a white light.

Why are clouds white?

When a white cloud gets thick enough or high enough, all the sun’s light does not make it through the cloud, so the cloud looks gray or darker. Also, if there are a lot of other clouds around, their shadow can add to the gray appearance of a cloud.

Why do clouds turn gray?

As long as the cloud and the air that its made of is warmer than the outside air around it, the cloud will float! But when the warm air that keeps the cloud up starts to cool, more water vapor is added to the cloud’s droplets and eventually the droplets become to heavy and come falling down to the ground!

Why do clouds float?

Clouds move with the wind. High thin clouds are pushed by the jet stream and sometimes travel at more than 100 miles-per-hour. Clouds that are part of a thunderstorm usually travel at a slower speed of 30 to 40 miles-per-hour.

How do clouds move?

There are many different types of clouds, but we will be looking at the three main types.

Cirrus clouds are high up in the sky. They are made of ice and are thin, wispy looking clouds. They are usually white and predict fair to pleasant weather. By watching the movement of cirrus clouds you can tell from which direction the weather is approaching.

Cirrus Clouds

Stratus clouds are uniform grayish clouds that often cover the entire sky. They look like a huge gray blanket that hangs low in the sky. Stratus clouds mean rain if it is warm and snow if it is cold.

Stratus Clouds

Cumulus clouds are white, puffy clouds that look like pieces of floating cotton. They are often called “fair-weather clouds”. The base of each cloud is flat and the top of each cloud has rounded towers.

Cumulus Clouds