Ch.6 Flashcards
Cirrus
High, thin, feathery
Cumulus
Globular, cottonlike, rising domes
Stratus
Sheets or layers
High Clouds
bases at 6000 meters(20,000 ft)
Middle clouds
2000-6000 meters
Low clouds
below 2000 meters(6500 ft)
Cirrus rank
High cloud, hooked “mares” tail
Cirrostratus
High cloud, thin white sheet makes the sky look milky, can produce halo around sun/moon
Cirrocumulus
High cloud, ripples, waves or globular in a row, “mackerel sky” Least common high cloud
Altocumulus
Middle cloud, “sheepback clouds”
Altostratus
Middle Cloud, Veil of cloud that may produce light preceip, sun or moon may show up as bright spot, no halo
Stratus
Low Cloud, low layer resembling fog,drizzle
Stratocumulus
Low Cloud,Soft gray globular, rolls may join to form continous cloud
Nimbostratus
Low cloud, dense billowy, flat bases,primary precip clouds
Cumulus
Vertical development cloud, dense billowy, may occur as isolated or closely packed.
Cumulusnimbos
Vertical development cloud, towering, “anvil head” Heavy rainfall, thunder, lightening, hail, tornadoes.
Clouds
Form when air rising and cools adiabatically
Fog(evaporation fog)
results from cooling or when air becomes saturated through the addition of water vapor
radiation fog
results from the radiaiton cooling of the ground and adjacent air
advection fog
happens when warm moist air blows over cold surface and becomes chilled by contact. winds are usually reqiured
upslope fog
happens when relatively humid air moves up a gradually sloping landform.
freezing rain
falls as liquid then freezes
Bergeron process
Ice cycles grow at the expense of cloud droplets until they fall
Collision-Coalescence process
collisions of water molecules to form rain. most apparent where water molecules are biggest ex:rain forest-humid and clean air