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Beyond their fluffy appearance, there is a lot more to know about cumulus clouds -- the most popular clouds of the lot. Given below is a compilation of some fascinating facts about these clouds, intended to shed some light on them.
Learn about cumulus clouds, including cumulus cloud description and facts, images, how to best identify them, and their species, varieties, and features.
Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds characterized by their distinct puffy, cauliflower-like appearance. These clouds form due to localized convection, the process by which warm, moist air rises...
Cumulus clouds are low-level clouds, generally less than 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in altitude unless they are the more vertical cumulus congestus form. Cumulus clouds may appear by themselves, in lines, or in clusters. Seeing a cumulus cloud means that the air is well mixed by up and down vertical drafts.
The meaning of this word is pile or heap. There is no need to wonder that Cumulus clouds have the flat bases with fluffy and cotton like appearance. The texture looks puffy. The Cumulus clouds usually are located less than 3,300 feet or 1,000 meters. They are considered as the low level clouds.
Clouds come in different shapes and sizes. Did you know that there are clouds in the shape of an anvil? Strange and unusual, isn't it? Those are cumulonimbus clouds for you! This ScienceStruck article takes you through some facts, description, and formation of cumulonimbus clouds.
From his Essay of the Modifications of Clouds (1803), Luke Howard divided clouds into three categories: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus, plus a fourth special type, nimbus. While clouds appear in infinite shapes and sizes, they fall into some basic forms.
Cumulus clouds are the cotton-wool puffs, with flat bases, that drift lazily across the sky on a sunny day. Generally forming a few hours after daybreak, they tend to dissipate before sundown, for they form on thermals – invisible columns of air rising from the ground as it is warmed by the sun.
Cumulus clouds are formed in presence of rising currents of warm moist air. This usually happens in pockets which are warmed by the sun. The air ascends to where the ground warms up more (hills and fields), and descends in cooler areas (water and forest).
An average cumulus cloud (fluffy white cloud) weighs the same as a jumbo jet - about 500 tonnes. Then how the heck do they float? Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets which, because of the viscosity (aka the ‘thickness’) of the air, means they fall very slowly.