18 3 Cloud Types and Precipitation

Warm Up 3/18/08
The wet adiabatic rate of cooling is less than the

dry rate because ____.
a. of the dew point
b. of the release of latent heat
c. wet air is unsaturated
d. dry air is less dense
2) Cool air acts as a barrier over which warmer,
less dense air rises, in a process known as ____.
a. divergence
c. orographic lifting
b. frontal wedging
d. subduction
3) Orographic lifting is associated with ____.
a. mountains
c. fronts
b. flat plains
d. rivers
Answers: 1) b. 2) b. 3) a.
1)
Cloud Types and

Precipitation
Chapter 18, Section 3
Types of Clouds
Clouds are classified on the basis of

their form and height
Cirrus clouds are high, white, and thin
Cumulus clouds consist of rounded
individual cloud masses, they normally
have a flat base and the appearance
of rising domes or towers
Stratus clouds are sheets or layers
that cover much or all of the sky
There are three levels of cloud heights:
high, middle, and low
Three cloud types make up the family of high

clouds (above 6000 meters): cirrus, cirrostratus,
and cirrocumulus
All high clouds are thin and white and are often
made up of ice crystals
Clouds that appear in the middle range (~20006000 m) have the prefix altoMiddle clouds may cause infrequent light snow and
drizzle
There are three members in the family of low
clouds (below 2000 m): stratus, stratocumulus, and
nimbostratus
Nimbostratus clouds are the main precipitation
makers
Vertical development clouds have their bases in
the low height range, but extend through the
middle or high altitudes
Cumulonimbus may produce rain showers or
thunderstorms
Classification of Clouds
Concept Check
What does the Latin word stratus

mean?
Stratus means to cover with a
layer.
Fog
Fog is defined as a cloud with its base at or

very near the ground
A blanket of fog is produced in some West
Coast locations when warm, moist air from the
Pacific Ocean moves over the cold California
Current and then is carried onshore by
prevailing winds
Fogs also can form on cool, clear, calm nights
when Earths surface cools rapidly by radiation
When cool air moves over warm water,
enough moisture may evaporate from the
water surface to produce saturation; as the
rising water vapor meets the cold air, it
immediately condenses and rises with the air
that is being warmed from below
Distribution of Fog
Concept Check
Compare and contrast clouds and

fogs.
Clouds and fogs are physically the
same. Fogs are clouds with their
bases at or very near the ground.
How Precipitation Forms
For precipitation to form, cloud droplets must grow in

volume by roughly one million times
Bergeron Process a theory that relates to the formation
of precipitation to supercooled clouds, freezing nuclei, and
the different saturation levels of ice and liquid water
Supercooled water in the liquid state below 0C (in the
atmosphere pure water can reach -40C without freezing)
Supersaturated the condition of air that is more highly
concentrated than is normally possible under given
temperature and pressure conditions
Because the level of supersaturation with respect to ice
can be quite high, the growth of ice crystals is rapid
enough to produce crystals that are large enough to fall
Collision-Coalescence Process a theory of raindrop
formation in warm clouds (above 0C) in which large cloud
droplets collide and join together with smaller droplets to
form a raindrop
The
Bergeron
Process
Collision-Coalescence
Process
Concept Check
What must happen in order for

precipitation to form?
Cloud droplets must increase in
volume by about one million times.
Forms of Precipitation
The type of precipitation that reaches Earths

surface depends on the temperature profile
in the lowest few kilometers of the
atmosphere
Temperature profile is the way the air
changes with altitude
Rain means drops of water that fall from a
cloud and have a diameter of at least 0.5 mm
At very low temperatures light, fluffy snow
made up of six-sided ice crystals forms
Sleet, glaze, and hail are all formed from
water becoming supercooled on its trip down
to the surface
Assignment
Read Chapter 18 (pg. 504 522)

Do Chapter 18 Assessment #1-30 (pg.
527-528)
Study for Chapter 18 Quiz!

18 3 Cloud Types and Precipitation

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Warm Up 3/18/08

The wet adiabatic rate of cooling is less than the

Cloud Types and

Clouds are classified on the basis of

Three cloud types make up the family of high

What does the Latin word stratus

Fog is defined as a cloud with its base at or

Compare and contrast clouds and

How Precipitation Forms

For precipitation to form, cloud droplets must grow in

What must happen in order for

The type of precipitation that reaches Earths

Read Chapter 18 (pg. 504 522)

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