What kinds of clouds exist?

The three main types of clouds

• High-level clouds (5-13 km): cirrocumulus, cirrus, and cirrostratus.
• Mid-level clouds (2-7 km): altocumulus, altostratus, and nimbostratus.
• Low-level clouds (0-2 km): stratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus, and stratocumulus.

1. How many types of clouds exist?
2. What are the 3 unusual clouds?
3. What are the fluffy clouds called?
4. What type of clouds are rain clouds?
5. What's a nimbus cloud?
6. Is there such thing as a nimbus cloud?
7. Where are nimbus clouds found?
8. What is the rarest cloud?
9. What is the most uncommon cloud?
10. What are jellyfish clouds?
11. What are the 10 different clouds?
12. What are clouds for kids?
13. What are flat bottomed clouds called?
14. What clouds produce snow?
15. What are nimbus clouds made of?
16. Are clouds ice?

How many types of clouds exist?

According to the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas, more than 100 types of clouds exist. The many variations, however, can be grouped into one of 10 basic types depending on their general shape and height in the sky.

What are the 3 unusual clouds?

Unusual Clouds: Lenticular, Virga, Mammatus, Kelvin-Helmholtz.

What are the fluffy clouds called?

Cumulus clouds look like fluffy, white cotton balls in the sky. They are beautiful in sunsets, and their varying sizes and shapes can make them fun to observe! Stratus cloud often look like thin, white sheets covering the whole sky. Since they are so thin, they seldom produce much rain or snow.

What type of clouds are rain clouds?

The prefix "nimbo-" or the suffix "-nimbus" are low-level clouds that have their bases below 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) above the Earth. Clouds that produce rain and snow fall into this category. ("Nimbus" comes from the Latin word for "rain.") Two examples are the nimbostratus or cumulonimbus clouds.

What's a nimbus cloud?

Nimbostratus clouds are dark, grey, featureless layers of cloud, thick enough to block out the Sun. Producing persistent rain, these clouds are often associated with frontal systems provided by mid-latitude cyclones.

Is there such thing as a nimbus cloud?

The word nimbus means a cloud that already has rain or snow falling from it. ... They can be a combination of two clouds, like a cumulonimbus, which means a puffy black cloud with rain falling out or it, or a stratonimbus, which is a dark blanket with rain falling out of it.

Where are nimbus clouds found?

Nimbostratus has a diffuse cloud base generally found anywhere from near surface in the low levels to about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in the middle level of the troposphere. Although usually dark at its base, it often appears illuminated from within to a surface observer.

What is the rarest cloud?

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 is the most uncommon cloud?

Nacreous clouds are some of the rarest clouds on the planet. They are a form of polar stratospheric cloud, which is a main culprit in chemical destruction of the ozone layer.

What are jellyfish clouds?

These unusual, but not entirely uncommon clouds along the Central Coast are known as jellyfish clouds, or altocumulus castellanus. These are typically middle-level clouds that are classified as altostratus or altocumulus, which form at altitudes from 6,500 to 23,000 feet. They are primarily composed of water droplets.

What are the 10 different clouds?

The foundation consists of 10 major cloud types. In addition to cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus clouds, there are cirrostratus, cirrocumulus, altostratus, altocumulus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus, and cumulonimbus clouds. The following table places these cloud types into the four major cloud groups.

What are clouds for kids?

A cloud is water in the atmosphere (air) that we can see. It is where rain and snow comes from. Water on the Earth evaporates (turns into an invisible gas) and rises up into the sky. Higher up where the air is colder, the water condenses: it changes from a gas to drops of water or crystals of ice.

What are flat bottomed clouds called?

You are referring to cumulus clouds (and to cumulonimbus). Cumulus clouds are, indeed, flat-bottomed because they ride atop currents of rising warm air (warmer than the air surrounding them).

What clouds produce snow?

Altostratus Clouds – Altostratus clouds, also known as snow clouds, are gray or blue-gray clouds that completely cover the sky. They're made of dense ice crystals and water droplets that can precipitate either continuous rain or snow.

What are nimbus clouds made of?

Nimbostratus clouds might consist entirely of cloud droplets or raindrops, or of ice crystals and snowflakes. However, the composition of nimbus clouds varies greatly depending on temperature and often they may be mixed with supercooled water droplets and ice crystals present at the same layer.

Are clouds ice?

A cloud is made of water drops or ice crystals floating in the sky.