Clouds and precipitation

Clouds and precipitation

• 1.
  Clouds and Precipitation By: Jeanette Rivera
• 2.
  Adiabatic Temperature changesand Expansion cooling • Heat not added or subtracted when temperature changes • Traveling up earths surface atmospheric pressure decreases because of fewer gas molecules • Dry adiabatic rate- rate of cooling and heating applied to unsaturated air. • Wet adiabatic rate- slower when cooling cause by latent heat.
• 3.
  Orographic Lifting • Elevatedterrains acting as barriers to air flow making orographic lifting occur. • Orographic air- lifts air • Most moisture is lost by the time air reaches leeward side of a mountain
• 4.
  Frontal wedging • Warmair and cool air collide producing a front • In North America cooler denser makes warmer less dense air rise. • Warm is rising the cool air is toward the bottom forming rain
• 5.
  Convergence • Air inthe lower atmosphere flowing together makes the air go up which is called convergence • Pattern of air movement and uplifting is accompanied by solar heat • Florida experiences great amount of mid afternoon thunderstorms
• 6.
  Localized Convective Lifting •Pockets of air may occur due to unequal heating on summer days • Rising parcel of warm air called thermals • Clouds form when warm parcel air rises above condensation
• 7.
  Stability • Volume airrise- temperature decreases do to expansion • Volume air cooler- environment ,more denser • Stable air- resists vertical air
• 8.
  Condensation • Occurs whenwater vapor  liquid • Water vapor  liquid can be in the form of dew, fog, or clouds • Air must be saturated before any of the forms of condensation occur
• 9.
  Types of cloud • Cirrus and cumulus • Cirrus- white, thin, high clouds • Cumulus- rounded individual cloud masses. • Stratus- a cloud with layers that cover much of the sky
• 10.
  High Clouds • Cirrus,Cirrostratus, and cirrocumulus make up a high cloud • White, thin and often made up of ice crystals • May leave a warn of stormy weather approaching
• 11.
  Middle Clouds • Inthe middle and alto is part of their name • Is an altocumulus cloud which is denser and larger • Light snow or drizzle is infrequent
• 12.
  Low Clouds • Stratus,Stratocumulus, and nimbostratus are all apart of the low cloud • May produce light precipitation • More towards the bottom and weather occurs more
• 13.
  Clouds of VerticalDevelopment • Clouds are more lower but stretch to higher or middle altitude • Associate with unstable air • Cumulonimbus cloud may produce rain showers or thunderstorms
• 14.
  Fog • Fog formation-when earth surface cool rapidly on cool, calm, clear nights • Air more denser, making thick fog occur • Cool air evaporates over warm water producing saturation • Same structure and shape as a cloud
• 15.
  Cold Cloud Precipitation •Cold air does not freeze at 0*C. • Water in liquid state at 0 degrees Celsius is called super cooled • Ice crystals cant coexist with water droplets in air due to super saturation on ice crystals
• 16.
  Warm Cloud Precipitation •Warm clouds- mechanism forming water droplets in collision-coalescence process • Salt able to remove water vapor from the air at relative humidities • Large droplets moving through cloud collide and coalesce with smaller slower droplets
• 17.
  Rain and Snow •Rain- drops of water fall from a cloud • Low temperature six sided ice crystals form which makes snow • At -5 degrees Celsius ice crystals join together as clumps
• 18.
  Sleet, Glaze, andHail • Sleet- fall of small particles of clear ice • Glaze-known as freezing rain, occurs when raindrops get super cooled • Hail-begin as small ice pellets, growing by collective super cooled water droplets.