Meteorology and You
Common Core State Standard: ELA: Reading Informational Text (3.1-10 through 8.1-10)
TYPES OF CLOUDS AND FOG
Clouds
There’s a variety of clouds that you’ll see above you. Clouds are made up of water vapor and ice crystals, which is why they float above our
heads all the time. Certain types of clouds can be beautiful, others can be ominous, but all of them contribute to the weather that affects you
every day.
Cirrus - The thin wispy clouds that barely block out the sun. They’re very high up in the atmosphere, as high as many jets fly! They’re made
of ice crystals, and they don’t cause any rain or snow.
Stratus - Mid-level clouds. They usually look very flat and elongated, like pulling a blanket over the sky. They can lead to grey, cloudy days,
or even have rain falling from them. When a cloud has precipitation coming out of it, we attach the term “nimbus” to it. A stratus cloud that
is precipitating is called nimbostratus.
Image from Avon looking over Hartford
Cumulus - Typical fair weather clouds. They’re the ones that look like white puffy “cotton balls” in the sky. They can also be a (which is invisible because of the fog!)
source of rain and severe weather. During times of atmospheric instability, cumulus clouds are the ones that grow until they
become towering and dark. When they reach that large anvil shape, and have a thunderstorm on it, we call it a supercell.
A cumulus cloud that has rain or snow falling from it is called cumulonimbus.
Fog
Fog can take a nice day and essentially ruin it. You can think of fog as a cloud that has lowered to the ground. Due to lower
wind speeds at the surface, fog can be stubborn and stay in one spot for a long period of time. It doesn’t always form in the
same way. Here are two different styles of fog:
Advection fog - occurs when moist air passes over a cool surface Types of Clouds
by advection <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advection> (wind) and
is cooled to the condensation point.
Radiation fog - formed by the cooling of land after sunset by
thermal radiation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation>
in calm conditions with clear sky.
Fog can also keep temperatures lower than nearby areas. For
example, due to fog, there’s been days where Hartford will be in
the 80s and Groton (along the shoreline) will stay in the 50s!
Satellite image of clouds
off the coast of the northeast
Did You Know Lightning Quick
In the north and south polar regions, there exist the
highest clouds on earth. They’re called Noctilucent
Clouds, and they exist between 47 and 53 miles
above the surface. They can only be seen at night,
and they appear as small wispy clouds. They’re
Activity
Cloud Charting: Go outside and look up! Try to spot any
made of ice crystals, and they cannot produce pre- different types of clouds. Can you see any cumulus, stratus or
cipitation at all. cirrus clouds? For one week, keep track of what types of clouds
you have on different days. Meteorologists do this every day!
