Clouds

Clouds

Look up at the sky. Do you see white or gray shapes moving across it? Those are clouds.

Most clouds are too far away to feel. You can only look at them. But there's one kind of cloud you can feel standing onthe ground. That is fog. It's the lowest kind of cloud.

You can learn a lot from looking at clouds. Theshape of clouds and whether they are dark or brightcan tell you how high they are and what kind ofweather they will bring. All clouds are made of water and particles of dusttoo small to see.

The highest clouds are six to nine kilometersup in the sky. That is three to four miles high.It's so cold up there that all the water inthose clouds freezes and becomes tinycrystals of ice. There are three kinds of clouds high up inthe atmosphere: cirrus clouds, cirrostratusclouds, and cirrocumulus clouds. The beginning of a cloud's name tellshow high up it is. The next part tells whatshape it is.

Cirrus clouds are hardly there. They look like wispywhite feathers trailing across blue sky. They mean sunny weather with no rain. They are far apart and let the sun shine on the earth. Cirrostratus clouds can cover the whole sky. They tellus that it may rain or snow in twelve to twenty-fourhours."Stratus" means clouds that are flat and spreadout like a blanket.