What conditions lead to more clouds forming?
205604
The sun heats the ground. \nThe warm ground in turn heats the air above. (In the above diagram, the warm ground and air are shaded in red.) \nThe warm air at the ground is lighter and less dense than the surrounding air above, so it begins to rise. \nThe rising air takes on the shape of a round "parcel." \nSeveral things happen as the parcel rises up through the atmosphere:\nThe higher up into the atmosphere you go, the lower the pressure. As the parcel of air rises, it experiences this drop in pressure. As the pressure on the air parcel drops, the parcel expands and increases in size. (In the diagram I drew the rising parcel getting bigger as it rises.) \nAnytime air expands due to a drop in pressure, it also gets cooler. So, as the parcel rises and expands, it also cools. (In the diagram, the green and blue colors indicate the parcel getting cooler.) The parcel cools at a rate of approximately 10 degrees C per 1000 meters of rise (or 5.5 degrees F per 1000 feet of rise.) This is called the dry adiabatic lapse rate. \nWarm air is able to hold larger amounts of water vapor (water in gas form) than cool air. The cooling parcel is no longer able to hold all of the water vapor it was able to hold when it was warm. The excess water vapor begins to condense out of the air parcel in the form of liquid cloud droplets. When water vapor begins to condense into liquid droplets (moisture), this means the air parcel is saturated and has reached its dewpoint temperature. The higher the parcel rises, the more it expands, the cooler it gets, and the greater the amount of moisture that condenses out of it. \nThe rising, expanding, cooling air parcel finally rises so high that the surrounding atmospheric air is the same temperature as the cooled parcel. This is called equilibrium temperature. When equilibrium is reached, the parcel loses momentum and stops rising. \nBy the time the air parcel has reached equilibrium temperature, enough moisture has condensed out of it to form a visible cloud! \nCloud heights and shapes vary according to the atmospheric conditions. On a hot day, clouds will tend to form higher, because the rising air parcels must rise higher in order to cool enough to reach dewpoint. When air parcels continue to rise after dewpoint has been reached and condensation has occurred, the cloud becomes very tall. This is how cumulus congestus and cumulonimbus clouds form. If air parcels only rise a short distance over a large geographical area after reaching dewpoint, layer clouds (such as stratus) will form.
8161
Clouds aren't just random droplets of water. What they are is tiny droplets of water that have condensed from water vapor in areas where the conditions (temperature, air pressure and humidity) are exactly right. Anywhere where you have the correct combination of these conditions, you'll get a cloud. Anywhere that you don't, you don't.\n\nAreas with this kind of conditions don't occur in random tiny places. Instead, there will be a large area of one condition that gradually shifts into another. (If this doesn't make sense, think of just temperature. You don't get a different temperature at every spot on the globe. Instead, you get a large area of warm air that gradually shifts into a large area of cooler air. The same is true for air pressure and humidity.) This is why you get a large area of 'cloud' in one place and nothing at all in another. You can think of clouds as being physical maps of the weather conditions in the sky.\n\nThis is also what holds the clouds up. In general, if a cloud is high up in the sky, the conditions just below it aren't right for the cloud to form. As the water droplets fall, they reach areas with the wrong temperature or pressure and evaporate again. Only if the clouds become densely packed enough for the water to form large enough droplets can the droplets fall to the ground. Not all clouds form high up, either... sometimes the right conditions can occur at groundlevel, giving us fog.
40788
Yes. See the cloud types shown here --- http://www.ccrc.sr.unh.edu/~stm/AS/Weather_Toolbox/Cloud_Classification.html\n\nAltostratus is about half-way down the page
654555
It forms due to diffraction of light by the small water droplets in fog. It's formation is similar to formation of the rainbow.
280270
A front forms.\n\nIf the two air masses come from completely different source regions then you may be in for some stormy weather. Just depends on where they originate as to what type of front forms. Let me explain...\n\nIf an air mass originates over land it will be dry. It is said to be a continental air mass.\n\nIf it originates over water it will be moist & is said to be a maritime air mass.\n\nIf it originates over a tropical area...yes you guessed it... a tropical air mass & will be warm.\n\nIf it originates over a polar area it is said to be polar & will be cold.\n\nThere are different combinations of the above. You can have cP, cT, mP, & mT.\n\nIf a cP air mass from Canada rides south and meets up with a mT air mass from the south you are more than likely looking at some stormy weather...thunderstorms, hail, lightning, tornadoes.\n\nWhen two air masses that are completely different come together watch out for the skies!
545209
Hail forms when water frezes as it falls and then wind blows it back up high befor it hits the ground.  It colects another layer of water that frezes, and if the wind is strong enough, it will fly back up, and the cycle repeats untill the wind is not strong enough to cary the hevy ball of frozen water back up.\nSnow forms when water droplets in clouds freeze and crisylise.
634341
The mechanism of Cloud formation is still not understood. Researchers are now applying Chaos Theory in the study and modelling of cloud behavior.\n\nWe "see" clouds only when the high moisture regions are sufficiently close to refract and reflect light. Actually they are highly dynamic systems.
349948
For weather you need hot and cold, wind and rain, snow and ice, and sunshine. The earth has plenty of those, and our weather is a world-wide heat-engine driven by the sun, the rotation of the earth, and the tilt of the earth's rotation axis with respect to its orbital plane as it orbits the sun. Thus we get night and day (hot and cold), seasons (rain, snow and ice), and cloudy or sunny days (and cloudy nights too, but it's hard to see clouds at night; and the Moon provides us with somewhat "sunny" nights a few nights every month).\n\nThe moon has plenty of hot and cold and sunshine, so some "weathering" of its surface does occur over billions of years of time, due to heat expansion and cold contraction of "stuff" on its surface. But without wind (no atmosphere) and rain, snow, and ice (no water) there is nothing to cause real weather like we have here on earth.
180195
clouds are just condensted water the water would stick to the bag eg.- fill jar with water put top on and wait a while water particas form a "cloud"
411969
Clouds are formed from water molecules combining together. The reason why the clouds get dark are because the molecules are so compact, the light can't get though it as well. It's like in the ocean. The further down you go, the darker it gets because there is more water molecules combined above than their is light. So basically the darker the cloud, the more likely your gonna get rained on!! AHAHAHA
409126
Lightening (which causes the thunder) is caused by a static electrical charge build up inside very high clouds. The static build up is caused by the collision and rubbing of small ice particles way up in the clouds. If these particles get big enough they will fall down and depending on the temperature outside will either melt into rain, or could initiate crystal formation (snow).\n\nSo you see, there is nothing about whether its rain or snow that effects the mechanism of lightning generation. The reason that it is less common in the winter is that in order to produce the very high lightning generating clouds (anvil-topped cummilonimbus [sorry if spelt wrong!]) it requires very strong updrafts - This is more likely in the summer when the hot sun beating down heats air rapidly so it shoots up fast. But there are conditions in winter that can have the same effect (like collision between warm and cold fronts).
527011
air naturally comes from high pressure fronts to low pressure fronts\n\nalso if you look at weather maps those wierd looking squiggly lines \nthe closer together they are the higher wind speed you'll have
231255
Lightning is formed by the convective processes that occur in a thunderstorm.  You'll have the warm, moist suface layer of air with the cold, dry layer of air aloft.  The natural balance of the atmosphere makes the warm air want to rise.  This gives strong updrafts of air can help create charge differences (warm humid surface air rises and cools, condenses into waterdroplets which have different charge the ice crystals in the upper atmosphere) which can cause lightning.\n\nIn a snowstorm (or winter in general) the surface layer is cold with low dewpoints (dry), so you generally won't find these updrafts and convection found in summer thunderstorms to create lightning.\n\nHowever sometimes the conditions can bring enough warmer air, moisture and instability to cause lightning and thunder.  Check out the link provided for more in depth details.\n\nThe thunder from thundersnow is not heard at very large distances, which makes it seem even rarer.  Snow absorbs a lot of the sound, so it will only be heard about a mile or two away.
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Convection leads to upward air movement, which in turn cools down the air. Cool air can hold less humidity, so a plume of mist forms where the formerly warm air gets cooled down. The droplets have a tendency to sink down but are moved up again by the convection which created them, thereby concentrating in one volume.\n\nStrong wind currents won't blow them apart but carry them along. What breaks up a cloud are irregular currents, or obstacles.
505764
There are several ways that fires affect weather.\n\nFires send particles into the air.  These particles act as condensation nuclei, which are needed to form clouds and can lead to rain.\n\nThe smoke from a fire can also block sunlight, lowering temperatures slightly.\n\nIn the immediate area of a active fire, the energy released can create thunderstorms and lightning, which in turn can spark more fires.
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It's because the tops of mountains has colder temperature than the bottom, that warm air rise up from the earth's heat to the air where they condense, form into clouds around the tip of the mountain is the land which is most coldest. At that position, it is a spot where clouds can be seen most often.
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Losing yourself in the skies and clouds are natures gift to us. I've seen objects, faces and "calming" designs. Cloud formations are majestic, serene, power and forces you to daydream and go to places only in your heart and mind. Clouds bring out the best in ones mind and with its changing of texture and color warn us of danger. A great "present" given to all by Mother nature.Give thanks, enjoy it and protect it.