The Water Cycle

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Clouds
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How Clouds are Formed

• All the air/water vapor around us has particles
  of dust floating in it.
• When that water vapor cools and condenses back
  into a liquid, it is mixed with the dust in the
  air.
• The condensed water and dust forms clouds

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How Clouds are Formed

• Clouds that form very high in the air can be made
  of tiny ice crystals instead of water droplets.
• Clouds are able to stay in the air b/c the
  particles that form them are so tiny.
• When more condensation occurs, the drops grow and
  become heavier.
• When the drops become too heavy to float, they
  come down as precipitation.

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How Fog is Formed

• Fog is formed the same
• way that clouds are, but
• fog forms near the ground instead of in the air.

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TYPES OF CLOUDS

• Clouds are classified by
• 1. Their color
• 2. Their shape and size
• 3. Where they form
• in the atmosphere.

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Types of Clouds

• Cumulus Clouds are the puffy clouds that usually
  indicate fair weather, but as cumulus clouds
  grow, precipitation can develop.

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Types of Clouds

• Stratus Clouds form low in the atmosphere (fog is
  a stratus cloud)
• They usually cover the sky in large sheets
• Heavy precipitation does not usually fall from
  stratus clouds, but light rainfall or light snow
  is possible

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Types of Clouds

• Cirrus Clouds form high in the atmosphere where
  the air is very cold
• These clouds are mostly made of ice crystals
• You can tell the type by their thin wispy strands
• They can indicate that a
• change in weather is coming

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Types of Clouds

• Nimbus clouds are storm
• clouds.
• Any of the other cloud types
• can turn stormy depending on
• the amount of moisture that
• the cloud contains.
• The cloud would then be renamed
• to include nimbus in the name
• (ex cumulonimbus or nimbostratus)

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What does the color of a cloud tell you?

• The color of a cloud lets you know how much water
  it contains.
• White clouds have little water.
• Dark clouds usually mean
• heavy rain.
• Grey clouds can mean
• snow or rain.

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Where do clouds form?

• Clouds form along weather fronts.
• Weather fronts are where two air masses meet
• An air mass is a large body of air that has
  similar temperature and humidity

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Cloud Video
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The Water Cycle
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The Sun Powers the Water Cycle

• The sun will shine on water located in various
  areas making it warmer. This causes the water to
  eventually turn into water vapor.
• This process of water heating and changing from a
  liquid to a gas is called evaporation. When have
  you witnessed water evaporating?
• This water vapor eventually becomes a cloud.

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Condensation

• Before the water vapor is able to become a cloud,
  it must condense.
• The process of condensation occurs when the water
  vapor in the air grows cool enough to become a
  liquid again.
• The droplets of liquid join with dust and ice
  particles to become clouds.

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Precipitation

• As more and more condensation occurs, clouds can
  become heavy with water droplets.
• Precipitation occurs when the clouds become too
  heavy.
• Precipitation takes several forms including rain,
  snow, sleet, and hail.

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Accumulation

• Water accumulates in many places.
• A puddle
• A lake
• A river or creek
• But in the end, most
• accumulation ends up in the
• ocean

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Oceans

• Oceans cover about ¾ of the surface of the Earth.
  When the fresh water gets to the ocean it mixes
  and becomes salty. The sun shines on the oceans
  and warms the water. The water becomes vapor
  once again.
• The cycle continues.

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The Complete Water Cycle
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The Water Cycle during a drought

• How would the water cycle be different during a
  drought?

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The Water Cycle during rainy season

• How would the water cycle be different during an
  especially rainy season?

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The Water Cycle during a humid day

• How would the water cycle be different during an
  especially humid day in Georgia?

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Water Cycle Video
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Types of PrecipitationRain

• . When clouds get so full of water from all that
  condensation, rain starts to fall.
• Rain falls onto the ground and into lakes,
  rivers, and streams.

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Freezing Rain

• Freezing rain takes place when water droplets
  become super-chilled.
• They do not freeze in air, but rather freeze the
  instant they strike an object, such as a road or
  car.
• The result can make roads very slippery, and can
  cause car doors to become frozen shut.

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Snow

• When the air is really cold, it might snow rather
  than rain.
• If the air temp. is below freezing then the water
  vapor becomes a solid without turning into a
  liquid first.
• The snow will remain on top of the ground until
  it melts. It will then turn into water and run
  into streams and rivers.

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Hail

• When the air temperature
• is very cold, ice crystals can
• form within clouds
• Those ice crystals fall from the cloud, get
  picked up by the wind and get blown back into the
  clouds
• Every time the crystals reenter the cloud they
  get bigger in size
• They finally come down to Earth when the wind is
  too heavy to hold them

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Sleet

• A mix of snow and rain
• Sleet forms when rain freezes on its way down to
  Earth
• It is able to freeze because it passes through
  especially cold air on the way down