How Do We Classify Clouds?

Clouds form when the air cools to its dew point. Clouds can form at any altitude in the troposphere. At temperatures above freezing, clouds are made of water droplets. Below freezing, clouds are usually mixtures of snow or ice crystals and super-cooled water.

Types of Clouds

Clouds are classified according to their height and their shape:

1. Low Clouds2. Middle Clouds3. High Clouds 4. Clouds Of Vertical

-Stratus -Altostratus -Cirrus Development

-Nimbostratus -altocumulus -cirrostratus- cumulus

-Stratocumulus -cirrocumulus- cumulonimbus

Notice that cloud names are formed from one or more of the same five words or parts describing the cloud’s shape and height above the ground.

Easy Key for Clouds – Mix and Match

Name / Description
Stratus/Strato / Describe clouds that form in layers
[Stratus – Flat, layered low clouds; fog]
Cumulus/Cumulo / Describe clouds that grow upward. Latin for a heap.
[Cumulus – Fluffy clouds with flat bases]
Cirrus/Cirro / Describe feathery clouds. Latin for curl of hair.
/

[Cirrus – High, feathery ice clouds]

Alto / Describes clouds located a middle latitudes. (2000m-7000m)
Nimbus/Nimbo / Dark, gray, rain or snow clouds.
Cumulonimbus / Very tall, vertical clouds, violent up & down drafts. Known for thunderstorms, lightening & hail. It may even trigger tornadoes!

What types of clouds do we see outside today? Today’s Date: ______

Use your Mix & Match key and Cloud diagram to identify the types of clouds in the sky.

Cloud nameDescription

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

What types of clouds do we see outside today? Today’s Date: ______

Use your Mix & Match key and Cloud diagram to identify the types of clouds in the sky.

Cloud nameDescription

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

Cloud Maker
Create and study an artificial cloud! Pour a cup of cool water into a clear 2-liter soda bottle with the label removed. Cover the bottle, and shake it vigorously for a minute or so to saturate the air inside the bottle with water. Open the bottle, and pour out the water. Carefully light a wooden match and blow it out gently. Insert the match into the open bottle so that smoke goes into the bottle. Cap the bottle tightly. Squeeze the bottle as hard as you can and hold it for several seconds. Let it go, and you’ll have a cloud! Shine a flashlight through the bottle, and hold a piece of black paper behind it to see the particle motion.