How is a cirrus cloud formed
Identifying clouds - Cumulus, Cirrus and Stratus
hello everybody in this video we're
going to be looking at clouds and
specifically how they are formed and
also to be able to identify the
different types of clouds
so although clouds look like they might
be gas they are in fact not there are
little tiny droplets of water that are
found in our atmosphere clouds are
formed when the Sun hits any surface
body of water like the sea a lake or a
river this evaporates and the hot air
will gradually cause this evaporated
water vapor to rise up within the
atmosphere as air rises it begins to
cool because typically we lose about one
degree centigrade every hundred meters
we gain in elevation the water vapor
begins to cool and then condenses on the
tiny little particles floating in the
air
these can be pollen dust or even
pollution particles these particles are
could condensation nuclei and they
provide the surface for the water vapor
to condense onto when enough water
vapour has condensed onto a surface of a
particle tiny Kile droplets are formed
now either typically very light but
because there are so many of them
together then in total they can weigh
hundreds of tons clouds float because
firstly the particles are very widely
spread and secondly because of warm air
that is still rising underneath the
clouds keeps them afloat when a high
concentration of cloud droplets condense
onto the surface particles this can then
become very very heavy and heavy enough
for it to fall as rain
a typical cloud related question that I
hear all the time is why are clouds
white well this is because light hits of
water droplets in all the colors of the
rainbow but the clouds and scattered
this light and to earth therefore it
appears like white light
gray clouds on the other hand have this
color because they are so thick with
water droplets that sunlight cannot pass
through them giving them the gray
ominous looking color now if you look
into the sky you may see different types
of clouds
however these clouds fall into three
main categories or types firstly we have
stratus clouds these are spread out like
blankets to cover most of the sky they
had tend to have a uniform color like a
white or a grey and typical typically
there is a little or no precipitation
from this type of cloud they are low
clouds and typically sit below 2,000
meters in the atmosphere the second type
of cloud we have are cumulus clouds
these are the stereotypical clouds of
the sky and when you imagine clouds you
usually think of these they normally
form from fluffy individually shaped
clouds with a flat bottom or base these
clouds also set quite low in the
atmosphere at about 2,000 meters and
they are the most common cloud type they
usually indicate clear weather but on
occasion can bring short showers of rain
lastly we have a type of cloud coat
Cirrus this actually comes from an old
Latin word meaning curl of hair
these clouds form very high in the
atmosphere about 7,000 meters and they
are wispy white in color they are so
high in the atmosphere that they are
made up of ice crystals and the sunlight
passes right through them so they're
normally quite hard to see they usually
indicate fair weather with no
precipitation when describing clouds we
often make combination of cloud
characteristics and for example if we
add the word Alto before three
previously mentioned cloud types were
indicating that this cloud is now found
in the middle part of our atmosphere for
example and now to cumulus cloud we
found around three
and meters and will typically be a bit
smaller than the previous aforementioned
cumulus cloud another word we can
include with clouds is a word Nimbus
this is attached to a cloud that
produces rain snow hail or sleet for
example a cumulus Nimbus is a large grey
flat-bottomed cloud that sits low in our
atmosphere and from which you get large
storms here are some other combinations
we could have altocumulus which we've
described before ultra Stratus which is
a blanket covering cloud found in the
middle atmosphere cirrocumulus are very
high up fluffy clouds that are very hard
to see cirrostratus are very wispy
Highline clouds that cover the whole sky
and stratocumulus which your are your
typical winter clouds which are
low-lying and rolling and as we've
discussed before the most typical
combination of cloud name would include
the word Nimbus or Nimbo any cloud with
the word Nimbo such as cumulonimbus
would be a rain cloud and you will get
some form of precipitation from it
clouds pay a very important role in the
water cycle and without them it would be
impossible water evaporates from all
bodies of water it rises and begins to
cool it reaches the dew point and
condenses onto particles forming clouds
and then when these particles join
together and become too heavy they form
in the form of precipitation such as
rain or snow this is then repeated and
ensures that the water cycle continues
looking at clouds makes it very possible
for us to predict the weather
Serkis cumulus clouds normally bring
good weather altostratus clouds means
usually rain or snow and nimbostratus
clouds tend to be
a half-orc tend to have quite a high
chance of precipitation
I hope you found this video informative
and you have learned a lot about clouds
thank you very much for watching and if
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hope you have a very great day
