CLOUDS

Here are the basic cloud types Cumulus are puffy mid-level white clouds made of water and ice, usually associated with fair weather.  Cirrus are high wispy clouds made of ice, also occurring with fair weather.  Stratus are flat low clouds made of water which sometimes produce light rain or drizzle (fog is a stratus cloud).   Nimbostratus clouds are thick dark low-level clouds that can produce rain or drizzle. Cumulonimbus clouds (thunderheads) are deep dark and puffy clouds that often produce thunderstorms.  Clouds form when water vapor rises, cools, and condenses.

Basic Cloud Types:

Experiment:
Breath Clouds
   On a cold day breathe out into the cold air.  Do you see the cloud?  What's happening?  When the tiny drops of water vapor in your breath meet the cold air, they stick together to form bigger drops that you can see.  Clouds in the sky form much the same way.  As water vapor rises into the colder air, it cools, and the vapor drops join together to make a cloud.