Chapter 11: Atmospheric Moisture and the Water Balance

Something in the Clouds

Clouds are a part of any beautiful day, and the sun shining would not be the same without a nice covering of layered stratus clouds in the sky. Moreover, a picnic would be incomplete without fat, puffy cumulus clouds to stare at, cumulus being the "shapes" in the sky both children and adults indulge themselves in deciphering shapes from. Cloud classification is common in meteorology as a practice and without clouds; precipitation could not fall to the Earth. The thicker and more condensed the clouds, the more likely it is to rain. Fortunately enough, the clouds from this picture do not spell thunderstorms any time soon!