Clouds

We were just picking up around the yard and looking at green sprouts and the lack of the. We sat on the garage bench and I looked up above the house to see a cloud form right before my eyes. You don't see that happen every day.

"The formation of clouds relies heavily on the Earth's rotation and positioning with the sun. Water from the ground, puddles, lakes and other areas is released to the atmosphere and turned into a cloud. The first step in the process involves the heat from the sun. When sun rays hit the water, it slowly evaporates and turns into air.

Warm air is carried up into the atmosphere and rises. As the warm water vapor rises through the air, a cooling process begins that forms tiny water droplets. All of these droplets expand together and form visible clouds that we see in the sky.

Lower clouds like stratus clouds, cumulus clouds and nimbostratus clouds have the highest density and can mix with enough warm air to form fog at a ground level. Cold areas in middle clouds like Altostratus form with a mix of ice crystals. These clouds cover a large area and are often darker and stormy.

The clouds that form the highest include cirrus and cirrocumulus clouds. Cirrus clouds form in streak-like patterns and are composed of heavy ice crystals that are higher than the middle layer of clouds. The low amount of moisture in the upper section of the atmosphere make the formation of these clouds very thin.

All of these processes that form clouds is also known as convection. Convection takes place when heat naturally rises. You can re-create this process and see how a cloud forms in a bottle of water to fully understand the process. Place a little warm water inside a clear plastic bottle and then dump the water out so that water droplets are left inside. Light a match and drop it in the bottle. Cap and shake the bottle so that the smoke mixes with the water droplets. Squeeze the closed bottle multiple times and a cloud will form. "

I've done similar experiments in ag science class with students.

I always liked the study of weather and clouds I think a farmer learns most of it from experiencing it because we are outside so much and I like to look up.

I looked up and see these clouds forming and can see the rain coming this week.

Next Saturday there may be little snow left on the ground but we still have some big piles to melt down.

Here is a picture of clouds down under versus ours today on your left.

Ed