Clouds and Their Classification

Clouds are visible accumulations of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere. Clouds differ in size, shape and color. Clouds form when air becomes saturated or filled with water vapor.

Warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air, so lowering the temperature of an air mass is like squeezing a sponge. Clouds are the visible result of that squeeze of cooler moist air. Moist air becomes cloudy with only slight cooling. With further cooling, the water or ice particles that make up the cloud can grow bigger particles that fall to the Earth as precipitation.

Classification of Clouds

General classification of clouds include two terms -prefix and -suffix

Prefix : There are mainly three prefix as follows
- Cirro- : It stands for the clouds with cloud base more than 6000m.
- Alto- : It stands for the clouds with base between 4000m -6000m.
- Nimbo- : It stands for the clouds with base between 2000m
Suffix : There are mainly three suffix as follows
- Cirrus-: Top high level clouds that shows the blowing wind direction
- Cumulus-: Looks like the scattered cotton in the sky
- Stratus-: These are clouds with great extents in the horizontal direction