Download Cloud Types review

Cloud Types Review
CUMULUS
Name means: heap
Altitude: surface – 13,000 m
(vertical growth)
Description: Puffy white or light
gray clouds with flat bottoms. Look
like cotton balls.
Associated Weather: predict
fair weather
CIRRUS
Name Means: lock/tuft of hair
Altitude: 5,000 – 13,000 m
(high)
Description: composed of ice
and consist of long, thin, wispy
streamers
Associated Weather: predict fair
weather (usually indicate a
change in weather)
CUMULONIMBUS
Name Means: Cumulus- heap
Nimbus- rainy cloud
Altitude: Surface – 13,000 m
(vertical growth)
Description: Winds will flatten the top of
the cloud out into an anvil-like shape
Associated Weather: associated with
heavy rain, snow, hail, lightning, and
tornadoes
STRATUS
Name Means: Flattened or spread
out
Altitude: Surface – 2,000 m
(low)
Description: Uniform gray
color and can cover most or
all of the sky
Associated Weather: light mist or
drizzle
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Rain:
Forms when tiny water droplets collide together in clouds. Eventually drops become too heavy and fall out of the clouds as rain.
Snow:
Type of precipitation in which water falls as ice crystals, or combinations of many ice crystals called snowflakes. Snowflakes form in
clouds where the temperature is below freezing.
Sleet:
Forms when a partially melted snowflake or raindrop turns back into ice as it is falling through the air. Usually tiny clear ice pellets
that bounce when they hit the ground.
Hail:
Forms as a result of strong updrafts in cumulonimbus clouds. Rising water vapor freezes forming ice, the ice is suspended in the air
by the strong updrafts and will later fall back down. This process will occur over and over adding layer upon layer to the hailstone.
Freezing Rain:
Forms when raindrops fall in liquid form and immediately freeze as they hit a cold surface.