Transcript clouds and precip

Clouds and Precipitation
Ch. 16, sec. 1
Clouds: What about ‘em?
 Clouds form when water vapor in the air
cools and condenses onto dust particles
 Watch demo
Cirrus clouds
 are ice clouds
 look like delicate white feathers or
streamers
 Bring fair weather
Cumulus clouds
 fluffy, white cotton ball
 "fair weather clouds"
Cumulonimbus clouds
 grow on hot days when
warm, wet air rises
very high into the sky.
 Anvil shaped clouds
that usually mean
thunderstorms
Stratus clouds
 often look like thin, white sheets covering
the whole sky
 Since they are so thin, they seldom produce
much rain or
snow.
 in the mountains or
hills, these clouds
appear to be fog.
fog
 When warm, wet air
condenses near the
colder ground
 Forms a cloud on
the ground
Vocab terms
 Precipitation: any form of water that falls
from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface.
 Rain: form when water vapor condenses
into liquid in clouds
 Sleet: Forms from rain falling through
freezing layer of air.
Tech Terms
 Freezing Rain: rain that falls and freezes
when it touches a cold surface on ground.
 Hail: Forms inside cumulonimbus clouds
during thunderstorms. Falls through
alternating warm and cold air and gets
blown back up until it is too heavy.
Hail
 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt
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Vocab terms
 Snow: water vapor in a cloud is converted
into ice crystals.
 Rain gauge: measures amount of rain
Windward/Leeward
 -The mountain forces
air to rise. It cools,
condenses and rains.
-on the other side
(leeward) the moisture
is gone. It sinks and is
dry.
 -Most deserts on this
side of a coastal
mountain chain.