Clouds form when warm air rises into the cooler parts of the atmosphere, causing water vapor to condense into liquid water droplets or ice crystals around particles in the air called condensation nuclei. As more and more water condenses around these particles, it creates clouds made of billions of water droplets or ice crystals that appear different depending on their composition, with water droplet clouds having sharper edges and ice crystal clouds looking fuzzier and whiter.

1. Weather
What are clouds?

2. What are clouds and how do they
form?
~ Turn and Talk about what you think
clouds are and how do they form.
~ SHARE what you came up with as a class

3. What are clouds and how do they
form? - NOTES
When water vapor in the air condenses, it
changes to a liquid, when those drops of
liquid combine a cloud forms.
The cloud formation process starts when
warm air rises.

4. How clouds form? - NOTES
Warm air near Earth’s Surface holds water
vapor. As warm air rises, it moves to a cooler
part of the atmosphere. Cool air cannot hold
as much vapor as warm air.

5. How clouds form? - NOTES
Some of the water vapor condenses around
tiny pieces of dust in the air. Without this
dust we would have no clouds.
This dust is also known as condensation nuclei.

6. How clouds form? - NOTES
Clouds can either form as drops of water or as
ice crystals. Either way it takes billions of
these drops of water to form clouds.

7. How clouds form? - NOTES
Clouds look different depending on what they are made of.
Water droplet clouds tend to have sharp, well-defined edges.
If the cloud is thick, it may look gray or even black. That is because sunlight
is unable to pass through.
Ice crystal clouds tend to have fuzzy, less distinct edges. They also look
whiter.