Cloud Presentation

By: Brandon Bond

Basic Cloud Types

• Cumulus– Puffy, white clouds with flat bottoms

• Stratus– Form in layers

• Cirrus– Thin, feathery, white clouds

Cumulus Clouds

• Formed when warm air rises.• Look like piles of cotton balls.• Generally indicate fair weather but, when they

get larger they produce thunderstorms.• Cumulonimbus clouds produce thunderstorms

Cirrus Clouds

• Form when the wind is strong.• Look like thin, feathery white clouds.• If they get thicker then they indicate that a

change in the weather is coming.

Stratus Clouds

• Formed from a gentle lifting of a large body of air into the atmosphere.

• Look like white layers in the sky.• Weather can be foggy and/or light to heavy

continuous rain.• Nimbostratus clouds are dark clouds that produce the

rain.

Altitudes

• Clouds are also classified by the altitude at which they form.– High

• Begins with prefix cirro-• Made up of ice crystals due to cold temperatures.

– Middle• Begins with the prefix alto-• Made up of water drops and ice crystals

– Low• No prefixes.• Made up of water drops.

Cumulus clouds and sandstone rocks.Earthscience World image bank

Cumulus Clouds

Cumulus clouds over a plain.Earthscience World image bank

Stratocumulus clouds over Monument Valley in Arizona.Earthscience World image bank

Stratocumulus clouds over Idaho.Earthscience World image bank

Cirrus in long parallel bandsGLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cirrus clouds look like white delicate feathers.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cirrocumulus Cloudshttp://www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/sky/images/7066

cirrocumulus cloud has small-scale ripplesGLOBE Cloud Exploration

Stratus clouds over Lake Superior GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Fog is a stratus cloud.

GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cirrostratus clouds are a thin, transparent, whitish layer made up of ice crystals.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cirrostratus clouds in Rocky Mountain National Park, ColoradoGLOBE Cloud Exploration

Altocumulus clouds look like waves of the sea with white and grey coloring and shadows.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Altocumulus clouds are almost always water droplets, and rarely ice crystals.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Nimbostratus with mountain rain and snow showersGLOBE Cloud Exploration

Nimbostratus is a very dark and grey colored cloud layer that blots out the light of the sun.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Altostratus clouds form a bluish or greyish veil that totally or partially covers the sky.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

The light of the sun can be seen through Altocumulus clouds but there is no halo effect.GLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cumulonimbus are very large, heavy and dense cloudsGLOBE Cloud Exploration

Cumulonimbus clouds have a generally flat, dark surface with very tall and large tops like the shape of a massive mountain and are associated with thunder and lightning.GLOBE Cloud Exploration