Imagine you are walking outside to go to school, what do you notice in the sky? Do you ever observe if clouds change from day to day?  If so, what do you notice about the clouds in the sky?  Have you ever thought about how clouds form? Sunlight causes water to evaporate into the atmosphere.  This air containing the water vapor is heated at the surface of the earth and rises.  As it rises, it cools and the water vapor condenses on some form of particulate matter such as dust, ash, or smoke to form clouds. 

After you observe the clouds, do you ever observe the different types of clouds that you see? How many types of clouds to you see? There are three different types of clouds in the sky:  cumulus, stratus, and cirrus.  The most common type of cloud is the cumulus cloud. They are big, puffy, white clouds usually in sunny weather, located in the mid to top of the sky, and usually do not bring rain.  Stratus clouds form in layers they usually come with “overcast” weather, low to mid of the sky, fog is a result from low stratus clouds, and they do bring rain.  Cirrus clouds are thin, usually made from ice crystals, highest in the sky where it is very cold.  Also, “nimbus” and “alto” mean midway.  These words combined with the three major cloud types make additional cloud types:  Nimbostratus, Cumulonimbus, and Altostratus.  Nimbostratus are Stratus clouds that bring rain.  Cumulonimbus are Cumulus clouds that bring rain.  Altostratus are Stratus clouds that are midway in the sky.  All of these cloud types will help when observing the clouds to find out what type are in the sky. 

Here are a few examples of the different types of clouds.  Let's check them out!!!!!

Cumulus Clouds: 

Stratus Clouds:

Cirrus Clouds:

All pictures were found at the following website:  http://www.cloudman.com/gallery1/gallery1_1.html