This document discusses various cloud and precipitation formation processes. It begins by explaining adiabatic temperature changes and how they relate to cloud development. It then discusses orographic lifting, convergence, localized convective lifting, stability, and condensation - all of which can induce clouds and precipitation. The document also classifies common cloud types such as cirrus, cumulus, and stratus clouds. It concludes by examining different types of precipitation including rain, snow, sleet, glaze and hail.

1. Clouds and precipitation
http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/chapter
4.html

2. Adiabatic Temperature Changes and Expansion
and Cooling
 Temperature change
 Dry adiabatic rate
 Heating or cooling of saturated air
 Wet adiabatic rate
 Slow cooling by the adding of latent heat
http://www.physicscentral.
com/experiment/physicsat
home/bottle.cfm
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-
for-kids/0070-adiabatic-temperature-
changes.php

3. Orographic Lifting
 Land masses makes air flow over it
 Rainiest places are the cause of this
 Most moister is lost by the time the air reaches the
other side
http://www.waterencyclopedia.co
m/Ce-Cr/Climate-Moderator-
Water-as-a.html
https://earthscience-in-the-
nationalparks.wikispaces.com/Death+Vall
ey

4. Convergence
 Collision of different air masses to make air rise
 Causes
 Cloud development
 Precipitation
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/n
otes/chapter6/lift_converge.html
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/gui
des/mtr/cld/dvlp/cnvrg.rxml

5. Localized Convective Lifting
 Unequal heating
 Pockets warming
 Particles rising called Thermals
http://www.richhoffmanclass.com/chapter
4.html

6. Stability
 Stabile air stays
 Unstable air rises
 Clouds will not form there is unstable air
http://keithrogershome.com/Chap6Stabili
tyInstability.html

7. Condensation
 Saturated air
 It forms in dew, fog, or clouds
 Occurs when air reaches dew point
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/idm3020
/tut_folder/nick_tutorial/
http://www.scottslum
ber.com/services/win
dow-condensation-
are-my-windows-
defective/
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmos
/hydro.htm

8. Types of Clouds
 Cirrus clouds wispy, slim, and high clouds
 Cumulus clouds round, individual air masses middle and low altitude
 Classified on the basis of formation and height
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.ht
ml

9. High Clouds
 Cirrus, cirrostratus, and cirrocumulus clouds
 Slim, whitish clouds
 Made of ice crystals
 Cirrus clouds are sometimes followed by a storm
http://www.weatherreport.com/Local-
weather-forecasts-Cloud-Reading.asp
http://eo.ucar.edu/kids/sky/clouds3.htm

10. Middle Clouds
 Altocumulus clouds
 2,000 to 6,000 meters high
 Big dense curved clouds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Altocum
ulus_clouds2_-_NOAA.jpg
http://www.ifimages.com/public/imag
39051/view.html
http://www.our-earth.net/Altocumulus-
Clouds.asp

11. Low Clouds
 Stratus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus clouds
 Sometimes includes light precipitation
 Fog like layer
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/kalani/18.cfm
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/
Atmosphere/clouds/stratocumulus.html

12. Clouds of Vertical Development
 The category where that
clouds don’t fit
 Low elevation range
 Sometimes ascend up to
mid and high altitudes
http://www.free-online-private-pilot-
ground-school.com/Aviation-Weather-
Principles.html

13. Fog
 Similar to a cloud
 A cloud with its base at or near the ground
 The denser the tougher to see
http://www.brainharmonycenter.com/brai
n-fog.html
http://outofthefog.net/

14. Cold Cloud Precipitation
 Two physical processes
 Suppercooling- when precipitation freezes when it
touches a solid surface
 Supper saturated – when relative
humidity surpasses 100%
https://www.meted.ucar.edu/sign_in.php
?go_back_to=http%253A%252F%252Fww
w.meted.ucar.edu%252Fhydro%252Fbasic
_int%252Fflash_flood%252Fnavmenu.php
%253Ftab%253D1%2526page%253D2.2.2

15. Warm Cloud Precipitation
 Collision-coalescence process makes rainwater
 Salt particles absorb water vapor taking it out of the
air
 Often big droplets form.
https://www.meted.ucar.edu/sign_in.php
?go_back_to=http%253A%252F%252Fww
w.meted.ucar.edu%252Fhydro%252Fbasic
_int%252Fflash_flood%252Fnavmenu.php
%253Ftab%253D1%2526page%253D2.2.2

16. Rain and Snow
 Rain means water that falls from a cloud
 Snow made of individual crystals
http://aumusiclibrary.wordpress.com/201
1/02/28/rain-helens-picks-for-a-rainy-
afternoon/
http://blog.thomaslaupstad.com/2008/01
/09/picture-of-snow-falling-and-a-lonely-
tree-in-northern-norway/

17. Sleet, Glaze and Hail
 Sleet- The fall of small translucent ice partials
 Glaze- Raindrops becoming supercolled as they fall
through subfreezing air near the ground
 Hail- Water vapor that go through a processes of
freezing then pushed up making it bigger every time
it goes through
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-
kids/0117-sleet.php
http://strangefunnyworld.com/amazing-
hail-the-size-of-baseballs-and-the-
http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-
kids/0118-freezing-rain.php