This document discusses various cloud formation processes and types of precipitation. It describes how air cools and warms during adiabatic changes and how lifting mechanisms like orographic lifting and frontal wedging cause clouds to form. It also explains different cloud types based on height like high, middle and low clouds. Finally, it discusses precipitation types including rain, snow, sleet, hail and freezing rain.

1. Clouds and Precipitation
By Ian Slavin

2. Adiabatic Temp. Changes
• This is about when air is allowed to cool,
expand, and when compressed it begins to
warm
• The rate of adiabatic rate of heating and
cooling is basically unsaturated air that is
called dry adiabatic rate
• The rate of the adiabatic cooling in a
saturated is called wet adiabatic rate and it is
slower than the dry adiabatic rate

3. http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu

4. Orographic lifting
• It occurs when the elevated terrains
• An example, mountains that are like barriers
to the water flowing and to air flow making
the air go up and over these mountains

5. http://www.sci.uidaho.edu

6. Frontal Wedging
• It is the boundary that is between crashing
masses of warm and cold air
• Frontal wedging is a posses that which cold
dense air is acts like a wall or barrier over
warmer air is less dense

7. http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu

8. Convergence
• This is the lifting air that is an outcome of the
air in the lower atmosphere flowing together

9. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu

10. Localized Convective Lifting
• This occurs when the unequal heating the
earths surface and warms a pocked for air to
move
• After that the surrounding air well make the
pocked become less dense

11. http://www.richhoffmanclass.com

12. Stability
• In most of stable conditions it happens when
air temperature really increases with height

13. Condensation
• In order for condensation to occur, the air
must be saturated

14. http://keep3.sjfc.edu

15. Types of Clouds
• The clouds are classified by the basis on the
form and height

16. http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cloud3.html

17. High Clouds
• The high clouds are flat masses that are
mostly made up of ice crystals

18. http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/high.html

19. Middle Clouds
• Middle clouds appear in the range of 2000
and 6000 meters
• Altocumulus clouds are made of rounded
masses that are different

20. http://www.nevis.k12.mn.us/science/MeteorN
otes.htm

21. Low Clouds
• Low clouds are the fog like clouds in the air
that may sometimes give off light perspiration

22. http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/glossary.php?&letter=L

23. Clouds of Vertical Development
• Some clouds don’t fit into only one layer
• It is based on the height and range
• This is mostly associated with unstable air

24. http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/EarthSC102Notes/102Clouds.htm

25. Fog
• Fog has no difference from a cloud the only
difference is that it is lower than the others
• The way these clouds become this way is
because of radiation

26. Cold Cloud Precipitation
• The Bergeron process relies on two physical
processes called supercooling and
supersaturating
• In this process the water becomes to freeze at
the 0 degrees Celsius and then starts to
crystallize

27. http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect14/Sect14_1d.html

28. Warm Cloud Precipitation
• Much rainfall could be associated with clouds
located well below the freezing temperature

29. http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect14/Sect14_1d.html

30. Rain and Snow
• This is rain drops of water that fall from clouds
and is created by precipitation and the snow is
made the same way but the temperature
outside is the freezing point of water and it
then turns into snow

31. Sleet Glaze Hail
• Sleet of clear small ice that is formed when air
temperatures are above freezing
• Glaze is also know as freezing rain and it is
formed when the temperature is below 0
degrees Celsius
• Hail is small pellets of rain that grow by
collecting supercooled water droplets as they
fall through a cloud