This document discusses various cloud formation and precipitation processes including: adiabatic temperature change caused by air compression/expansion; orographic lifting where winds force air up mountains cooling it; frontal wedging where warm/cold air collide forming storms; convergence where air flows together upward; localized convective lifting forming warm air pockets called thermals; stability based on air density differences; condensation requiring saturated air; the types and heights of clouds; vertical cloud development enhancing movement; fog forming over land or sea; cold/warm cloud precipitation mechanisms; and rain, snow, sleet, glaze and hail depending on atmospheric temperatures.

1. By: Matthew Gahman

2. Adiabatic Temperature Change
• Adiabatic temperature change is when the
temperature changes without heat being
added or subtracted
• This happens by air being compressed or the
air being expanded

3. Orographic Lifting
• Is when mountains or high ground act as wind
barriers
• As the air/ wind goes up the side of the
mountain it cools it off creating precipitation
and clouds
• by time the wind gets to the other side the
moister is mostly gone on its decline it puts off
warm air

4. Frontal wedging
• Is when cold and warm air collide with each
other becoming a front
• This creates the warm air to flow right over
the cold air
• These fronts can create a middle cyclone
storms

5. Convergence
• Is when air in the lower atmosphere flow
together
• It happens when air flows from more than one
direction an the only place the air can go is up

6. Localized Convective Lifting
• Is when unequal heating occurs on the earths
surface creating warm air pockets
• The warm pockets of air will rise above the
other because it is less dense when that
happens it is called a thermal
• Thermals are great for hawks to hunt pray
and even good for hang gliding

7. Stability Density Differences
• Stable air stays the same while the unstable
air tends to rise
• Clouds wont form in stable air conditions

8. condensation
• Air must be saturated to form
• Saturation happens when air is cooled to its
dew point

9. Types of Clouds
• Cirrus clouds are described as a curl of hair
and are high and thin in the atmosphere
• Cumulus clouds are rounded individual
masses
• Stratus is a layer or sheet

10. High clouds
• Cirrus, cirrostratus and cirrocumulus make up
the high cloud family
• Often made up of ice crystals making thin and
white clouds
• High clouds do not create precipitation

11. Middle clouds
• Altocumulus clouds are composed of rounded
masses that are larger and denser then
cirrocumulus clouds
• Middles clouds range from 2000-6000 meters
in the atmosphere
• Infrequent light snow or drizzle may occur in
this area

12. Low clouds
• Stratus, stratocumulus, and nimbostratus
make up the low cloud family
• Light precipitations are created by
nimbostratus clouds
• Stratus that develops a scalloped bottom are
called stratocumulus clouds

13. Clouds of vertical development
• The more movement and acceleration creates
a more vertical range

14. Fog
• Fog is a cloud with a base at or near the
ground
• Fog can be produced by moisture from the sea
that moves over land
• Moisture evaporates as cool air moves over
warm air

15. Cold cloud precipitation
• The Bergeron process relies on super cooling
and saturation
• Ice crystals cannot exist with water droplets

16. Warm cloud precipitation
• Collision-coalescence process forms raindrops
in clouds
• Water absorbing particles remove water vapor
from the air
• As droplets move through the clouds that join
with smaller droplets

17. Rain and Snow
• The type of precipitation depends on the
temperature in the atmosphere
• When temperatures are above 4˚C snowflakes
melt and continue as rain
• A temperature more then -5˚C ice crystals
come together in clumps

18. Sleet, Glaze, and Hail
• Sleet is small particles of clear ice
• Glaze (freezing rain) occurs when raindrops
are super cooled as they fall
• Hailstones begin as small ice droplets that get
bigger as they collect super cooled droplets

19. The end