What does a storm cloud look like?
What does a storm cloud look like?
The first type looks like spoonfuls of marshmallow cream or cool whip (cool whip = cumulus). These are Cumulus clouds and they are puffy. Cumulus clouds can look like animals or people….Storm Cloud Names.
| Cloud Group | Cloud Height | Cloud Types |
|---|---|---|
| High Clouds = Cirrus | Above 18,000 feet | Cirrus Cirrostratus Cirrocumulus |
How is a storm cloud formed?
To create a thunderstorm, the unstable air needs to have a nudge upward. This lift usually comes from differences in air density. Warmer, less dense air rises upward, creating lift. As the air lifts higher and higher, it causes a storm cloud to grow taller and taller.
What do the clouds look like when a tornado is forming?
A funnel cloud is a rotating column of air (visible due to condensation) that does not reach the ground. If a funnel cloud reaches all the way to the ground, it is then classified as a tornado. When out on the road, funnel clouds should be treated as tornadoes, since they could touch down.
What is the rarest cloud formation?
Kelvin Helmholtz Waves are perhaps the rarest cloud formation of all. Rumored to be the inspiration for Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Starry Night”, they are incredibly distinctive. They are mainly associated with cirrus, altocumulus, and stratus clouds over 5,000m.
What’s inside a storm cloud?
Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus, “heaped” and nimbus, “rainstorm”) is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents. If observed during a storm, these clouds may be referred to as thunderheads.
What are the 3 stages of a thunderstorm?
Thunderstorms have three stages in their life cycle: The developing stage, the mature stage, and the dissipating stage. The developing stage of a thunderstorm is marked by a cumulus cloud that is being pushed upward by a rising column of air (updraft).
What kind of clouds are storm clouds?
What is the weirdest type of cloud?
With an array of lumps and bulges, the mammatus cloud is by far one of the most unusual and distinct cloud formations. Turbulance within a cumulonimbus cloud will cause mammatus clouds to form. Cumulonimbus clouds are often otherwise known as thunderstorm clouds, which are very large and usually very unstable.