Cloud Chart
Students are to use their textbook to complete the chart below. Students may draw clouds or place a picture in the one columns. Make sure you are describing their shape. This chart will be the notes for Cloud Classification and may be used on the test! (You can change the chart to suit your needs)
Air mass reaches its lifted condensation level: water vapor condenses. Density great enough it becomes clouds. Different altitudes and different shapes.
| SHAPE | NAME | ALTITUDE | DESCRIPTION |
| Cirrus (no precipitation) | above 6000 m(20,000feet) | wispy, stringy clouds, forms at heights above 6000m, temperatures below freezing made of ice crystals | |
| Cirrostratus | above 6000m(20,000feet) | continuous layer that sometimes covers the sky, vary in thickness from being almost transparent to dense enough to block out the Sun or Moon. | |
| Cirrocumulus | above 6000m(20,000feet) | high clouds, thin white made up of ice crystals. Appear as white patches composed of very small cells or ripples | |
| Cumulonimbus | vertical development, 1,000 to the top of the troposphere | Huge towers, heavy mass of cloud with great
vertical development. Most violent and produce the worst thunderstorms.
presence of an anvil composed entirely of ice crystals
formed by the high winds of the lower stratosphere that extend the cloud
forward
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| Altocumulus | 2000m to 6000m | can either be all liquid or a mixture of liquid and ice crystals. Layered, often resemble white fish scales. | |
| Altostratus | 2000m to 6000m | same as altocumulus except they are dark but thin veils of clouds that produce mild precipitation | |
| Cumulus | vertical development, 1000 to the top of the troposphere | Thick dense cloud with vertical development. Unstable enough, the cloud will be warmer than surface or surrounding air and will continue to grow. Can read nearly 18,000m composed of ice crystals. Can develop into a cumulonimbus. | |
| Stratocumulus | Surface to 6,500 feet |
are low, layered clouds with some vertical development.
Their darkness varies when seen from below because their thickness
varies across the cloud. Thicker sections appear dark, and thinner
areas appear as bright spots
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| Stratus | below 2,000m |
are layered
clouds that form when extensive areas of stable air are lifted.
Usually the rate of uplift producing a stratus cloud is only a few
tens of centimeters per second, and its water content is low
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| Nimbostratus | surface to 6,500 feet |
Low, layered clouds that yield light precipitation
Seen from below, these clouds look very much like stratus,
except for the presence of precipitation
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