What would you call a low cloud that blankets the sky and often generates precipitation?
Stratus comes from the Latin word meaning “to spread out.” Stratus clouds spread out and usually cover the whole sky like a blanket. They occur in horizontal layers and are usually the same color of dark gray all across the sky. They usually bring light rain or drizzle.
What type of cloud covers much or all of the sky in sheets or layers?
Stratus cloud often look like thin, white sheets covering the whole sky. Since they are so thin, they seldom produce much rain or snow. Sometimes, in the mountains or hills, these clouds appear to be fog. Cumulonimbus clouds grow on hot days when warm, wet air rises very high into the sky.
Which term is used to describe clouds that produce precipitation?
The cumulonimbus cloud, or thunderstorm, is a convective cloud or cloud system that produces rainfall and lightning. It often produces large hail, severe wind gusts, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall.
What type of cloud covers much or all of the sky in sheets or layers quizlet?
There are three members in the family of low clouds: stratus, stratocumulus, and nimbostratus. – Stratus clouds are a uniform, fog-like layer of clouds that frequently covers much of the sky.
What are grey clouds called?
Stratus clouds are uniform and flat, producing a gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle.
What are blanket like clouds called?
Stratus clouds Stratus clouds are nondescript, thick, blanket-like clouds that form low in the sky. Think of the last gray, overcast day when it didn't rain… those were probably stratus clouds. (Fog is just a ground-level stratus cloud.)
What are GREY clouds called?
Stratus clouds are uniform and flat, producing a gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle.
What are cirrus stratus and cumulus clouds?
Three types of clouds Clouds form in three basic patterns: Cirrus, from cirro, meaning curly or fibrous. Stratus, from strato, suggesting sheets or layers. Cumulus, from cumulo, indicating heaped or piled.
Do cumulus clouds produce precipitation?
Strong cumulonimbus storm cells can produce thunder, lightning, hail, torrential rains, strong winds and tornadoes. Cumulus congestus clouds, having more vertical development than fair-weather cumulus clouds, can also produce light rain, though not significant enough to warrant a name change to nimbus.
Which type of cloud is most likely present on a gray rainy day?
Nimbostratus clouds are dark, grey, featureless layers of cloud, thick enough to block out the Sun. Producing persistent rain, these clouds are often associated with frontal systems provided by mid-latitude cyclones. These are probably the least picturesque of all the main cloud types.
Are cumulus clouds?
The fluffy, cauliflower-shaped cumulus is one of the most common and distinctive types of cloud.
What do dark clouds mean?
A: Very dark looking or black clouds are probably those that contain a lot of rain in them and part of a thunderstorm, McRoberts adds. "In general, the severity of a storm is related to cloud height, which is why dark clouds are usually an indicator of bad weather.
What are low gray clouds called?
Stratus Low Clouds Stratus (St) These low altitude clouds, abbreviated St, are diffuse in appearance. From the ground they appear as light to dark gray in color and cover the sky. These clouds are common along coastlines and in valleys.
What are nimbus clouds?
A nimbus cloud is a cloud that produces precipitation. Usually the precipitation reaches the ground as rain, hail, snow, or sleet. Falling precipitation may evaporate as virga. Since nimbus clouds are dense with water, they appear darker than other clouds.
Do stratus clouds produce precipitation?
Stratus clouds are uniform and flat, producing a gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle.
Which type of cloud is most likely to produce precipitation quizlet?
Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with heavy rain, snow, hail, lightning and even tornadoes. The anvil usually points in the direction the storm is moving. low hanging bulges that droop from cumulonimbus clouds.
What are dark rain clouds?
Cumulonimbus clouds are also called thunderheads. Thunderheads produce rain, thunder, and lightning. Many cumulonimbus clouds occur along cold fronts, where cool air is forced under warm air. They usually shrink as evening approaches, and moisture in the air evaporates.
What are stratus clouds?
What are stratus clouds? Stratus clouds are low-level layers with a fairly uniform grey or white colour. Often the scene of dull, overcast days in its 'nebulosus' form, they can persist for long periods of time. They are the lowest-lying cloud type and sometimes appear at the surface in the form of mist or fog.
What is dark cloud called?
The dark clouds in space are called absorption nebulas or dark nebulas. An absorption nebula is a cloud of gas and dust which blocks light from the regions of space behind it. As light from space reaches an absorption nebula it is absorbed by it and does not pass through.
What grey clouds mean?
White clouds are normally positive and represent stability and positivity, but also a light approach to life. Grey clouds might represent your emotions, especially the negative ones. It's often said that grey clouds have a direct effect on your feelings and how you're going through your life.
What are black clouds called?
The Latin word nimbus means “dark cloud” or “rain storm,” and meteorologists use it to classify two of the major types of rain-bearing clouds: nimbostratus, layered rain clouds that don't produce lightning, and cumulonimbus, deep cumulus clouds generating lightning, thunder and heavy downpours.
What are cumulus clouds?
What are cumulus clouds? Cumulus clouds are detached, individual, cauliflower-shaped clouds usually spotted in fair weather conditions. The tops of these clouds are mostly brilliant white tufts when lit by the Sun, although their base is usually relatively dark.
Do cumulonimbus clouds produce precipitation?
Cumulonimbus clouds are also called thunderheads. Thunderheads produce rain, thunder, and lightning. Many cumulonimbus clouds occur along cold fronts, where cool air is forced under warm air. They usually shrink as evening approaches, and moisture in the air evaporates.
Do cirrus clouds produce precipitation?
What weather is associated with cirrus clouds? They often form in advance of a warm front, where the air masses meet at high levels, indicating a change in the weather is on the way. Technically these clouds produce precipitation but it never reaches the ground.
Which two clouds can produce precipitation?
Almost all rain is produced from low-level clouds. Stratus clouds produce steady rains, and cumulus clouds produce intense, stormy precipitation. Mid-level clouds can tip you off to the potential for these precipitation-producing cloud types to develop and may even produce an occasional sprinkle themselves.
Which type of clouds is most likely present on a gray rainy day?
Nimbostratus clouds are dark, grey, featureless layers of cloud, thick enough to block out the Sun. Producing persistent rain, these clouds are often associated with frontal systems provided by mid-latitude cyclones. These are probably the least picturesque of all the main cloud types.
What do grey clouds mean?
Most clouds are white, but rain clouds are usually a darker shade of gray. They are gray because of their thickness or height. Basically, clouds look gray when they block out sunlight. A cloud gets thicker as it gathers more water droplets and ice crystals. The thicker a cloud gets, the less light can pass through it.
Why are some clouds dark grey?
As the size and concentration of the hydrometeors increases, less and less sunlight penetrates the cloud, resulting in multiple scattering. We perceive these clouds as dark clouds in varying shades of grey.
What is a heavy dark cloud?
The Latin word nimbus means “dark cloud” or “rain storm,” and meteorologists use it to classify two of the major types of rain-bearing clouds: nimbostratus, layered rain clouds that don't produce lightning, and cumulonimbus, deep cumulus clouds generating lightning, thunder and heavy downpours.
What is a dark cloud?
Definition of cast a (dark) cloud : to cause people to stop trusting something The scandal cast a cloud over his presidency. Several problems have cast a cloud on the program's future.