It's Cloudy!

This book breaks down the concept of cloud formation to explain evaporation, water vapor, the four ways air rises, including convection, convergence, and orographic and frontal lifting, the dew point, condensation, and the formation of cloud droplets. Readers will also learn about updrafts, downdrafts, the life cycle of a storm cloud, and cloud names beginning with Luke Howard's classification system. Other chapters highlight low, middle, high, and vertical clouds, including stratus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus, altostratus, altocumulus, cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus clouds, as well as unusual cloud formations such as anvil, mammatus, and lenticular clouds, and contrails. The importance of clouds to the hydrologic cycle and the earth's temperature is also discussed. Clear, helpful diagrams, full-color photographs, bold glossary words, and an index support this easy-to-read, engaging text. Detailed maps Glossary of key words Index Informative sidebars Table of contents The What's It Like Out? series introduces readers to the science of weather. Clear, helpful diagrams support easy-to-read text that brings important concepts to life. Individual books highlight how and why weather happens, from the molecules in the air to the most violent storms on Earth. Discover how clouds and raindrops form, why the wind blows, where tornadoes and hurricanes are most common, and how they form. Also, learn about the tools forecasters use to predict these weather conditions. Full-color photographs, bold glossary terms, and an index support this engaging series.