Saturday 15 August 2009
Clouds are masses of floating moisture. They are made of millions of tiny water drops or ice crystals. Clouds form when warm air containing moisture rises and cools
If you watch the sky you will see clouds of different shapes. Different clouds bring different types of weather. White, fluffy clouds known as cumulus, usually mean fine weather
Cumulonimbus clouds are towering, flat-topped clouds. If you see these clouds, watch out for bad weather! They often bring heavy rain, hail or thunderstorms!
cumulonimbus clouds
It's raining..
Sooner or later, clouds shed their moisture as rain, snow, sleet or hail. This is called precipition. Very fine rain is known as drizzle. A short bust of rain is called a shower
raining ice 
couple in the rain
In very high clouds, the moisture forms ice instead of water. Tiny ice crystals join up to make snowflakes. Snowflakes often melt on the way down to fall as rain!
Raindrops are not shaped like teardrops. They are round wit flatter top & bottom, like burger buns!
If the sun comes out when it's raining, you may witness a rainbow.
Raindrops bend the different colours in white light, separating them out into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo & violet
credits: my first planet earth encyclopedia - jen green / various sources
