Cloud Forms Essay

Cloud forms

Clouds, which we can see from the sky everyday no matter it is sunny or rainy. As we can notice that the clouds come in many shapes and sizes. There are so many kinds of clouds, and the three main kinds of clouds are stratiform cloud, or so called layered cloud, cumuliform cloud, and the cirrostratus cloud.

Stratiform clouds are blanket-like clouds which usually cover large areas. Their shapes generally like layers and most are mature. They regularly lay on the low height of the sky, typically below 2000 meters. Because of their low height, sometimes people regard them as fog when it is so closed to the ground. A common type of stratiform clouds is stratus that we can see it covers the entire sky. Stratiform clouds do not have an actual structure. They are made up of tiny water droplets. This kind of cloud is very condensed and thick, and it tends to produce large amounts of rain and snow.

Cumuliform clouds are globular masses of cloud that are involved in different sizes of parcels of rising air. Cumuliform cloud is often described as “puffy”, “cotton-like”, “fluffy” in appearance. They are also the low height clouds, which generally less than 1000 meters in latitude. The most common type of cumuliform clouds is the cumulus cloud, which is dense, tall clouds that can produce little or no precipitation, but they can grow into precipitation-bearing cumulonimbus clouds. Cumuliform clouds can also produce thunderstorms.

Cirrostratus clouds have a sheet-like appearance. They are high-level clouds composed of ice crystals. These high-level clouds typically form in a latitude about 5500 meters. The sun or moon can shine through cirrostratus clouds. Sometimes, the sun or moon will appear to have a halo around it when in the presence of cirrostratus because of the ice crystals, which can refract the light from the sun and moon and creating a halo. The most common type of cirrostratus cloud is the cirrus, which is high, thin, wispy cloud.