Table of Contents
What are the 4 cloud families?
For identification purposes, you need be con- cerned only with the more basic cloud types, which are divided into four “families.” The families are: high clouds, middle clouds, low clouds, and clouds with extensive vertical development.
What does the prefix alto mean?
mid-level clouds
– The prefix alto- means mid-level clouds, – The prefix nimbo- or the suffix -nimbus means precipitating, such as nimbostratus or cumulonimbus.
What does cumulus and nimbus mean?
Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus, “heaped” and nimbus, “rainstorm”) is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents. These clouds are capable of producing lightning and other dangerous severe weather, such as tornadoes and hailstones.
What causes mammatus clouds to form?
How do mammatus clouds form? Mammatus clouds are usually formed in association with large cumulonimbus clouds. Typically, turbulence within the cumulonimbus cloud will cause mammatus to form, especially on the underside of the projecting anvil as it rapidly descends to lower levels.
What does the prefix or suffix nimbus mean is true about the cloud quizlet?
A nimbus cloud is a cloud that produces precipitation. Nimbus is a Latin word meaning rain cloud or rain storm. The prefix nimbo- or the suffix -nimbus indicates a precipitating cloud; for example, a nimbostratus cloud is a precipitating stratus cloud, and a cumulonimbus cloud is a precipitating cumulus cloud.
Are nimbus clouds high or low?
Nimbostratus are dark, low-level clouds accompanied by light to moderately falling precipitation. Low clouds are primarily composed of water droplets since their bases generally lie below 6,500 feet (2,000 meters). However, when temperatures are cold enough, these clouds may also contain ice particles and snow.
What is Nimbus Latin for?
From the Latin nimbus, which means rainy cloud, and stratus. Stratocumulus.
Where does nimbostratus occur on the synop report?
It is coded C M 2 on the SYNOP report. Nimbostratus occurs along a warm front or occluded front where the slowly rising warm air mass creates nimbostratus along with shallower stratus clouds producing less rain, these clouds being preceded by higher-level clouds such as cirrostratus and altostratus.
When does an altostratus cloud become a nimbostratus?
Often, when an altostratus cloud thickens and descends into lower altitudes, it will become nimbostratus.
Where did the word nimbus come from and what does it mean?
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin, “rainstorm, rain cloud, thundercloud, cloud”; akin to Latin nebula and Greek nephélē, néphos “cloud,” and Slavic (Polish) niebo “sky, heaven” OTHER WORDS FROM nimbus
Where does nimbostratus occur in a warm front?
Nimbostratus occurs along a warm front or occluded front where the slowly rising warm air mass creates nimbostratus along with shallower stratus clouds producing less rain, these clouds being preceded by higher-level clouds such as cirrostratus and altostratus.