Why are the bases of clouds flat?

Why are the bases of clouds flat?

As warm air rises, the water vapour remains invisible until the air cools enough for it to condense into water droplets. The altitude where that happens marks the bottom of the cloud. Providing that more air feeds in from below, new cloud will form there and preserve the flat bottom.

Do clouds always have flat bottoms?

Have you ever noticed clouds have flat bottoms? Not all clouds, but the puffy little cumulus Toy Story-style clouds do often have them, especially when it’s not too windy. During the day the sun warms the ground, which then radiates heat, causing air near the ground to warm and rise.

What are flat white clouds called?

Stratus cloud
Stratus cloud often look like thin, white sheets covering the whole sky.

What are flat clouds?

Stratus clouds are uniform and flat, producing a gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle.

What are little puffy clouds called?

Cumulus clouds are clouds which have flat bases and are often described as “puffy”, “cotton-like” or “fluffy” in appearance. Their name derives from the Latin cumulo-, meaning heap or pile.

How big is the base of a cumulus cloud?

Cumulus-(Cu)- This type of cloud can type a variety of shapes and is most commonly referred to a piece of cotton with sharp outlines and a flat base. This base appears anywhere from white to light gray, and on humid days, may only be about 1000m above the ground and about a kilometer wide.

Why do some clouds have flat bottoms and flat tops?

If the clouds cover a large part of the sky, and they have a visible “lumpiness”, then perhaps the cloud is a stratocumulus formation. These clouds have a blend of conditions, where there is an atmospheric structure that makes the cloudy air locally buoyant, with flat bottoms and (mostly) flat tops, while the cloudy air has cumuliform elements.

What are the names of the different types of clouds?

Thus, the 10 types are: Low-level clouds (cumulus, stratus, stratocumulus) that lie below 6,500 feet (1,981 m) Middle clouds (altocumulus, nimbostratus, altostratus) that form between 6,500 and 20,000 feet (1981–6,096 m)

What kind of clouds form ahead of a warm front?

Altostratus tend to form ahead of a warm or occluded front. They can also occur together with cumulus at a cold front. Like their name suggests (which is Latin for “curl of hair”), cirrus are thin, white, wispy strands of clouds that streak across the sky.