How do clouds and precipitation form?

Type of precipitation that hits as a liquid and then freezes instantly when it hits the ground.

• Rain

• Snow

• Sleet

• Freezing rain

Type of precipitation that melts as it falls through the sky but then refreezes BEFORE it hits the ground as a solid ball of ice.

• hail

• sleet

• rain

• snow

This type of precipitation grows in layers each time it is pushed up or down in the cloud.

• Sleet

• Snow

• Hail

• Rain

This type of precipitation melts on its way to the ground and stays a liquid drop of water as it hits the above freezing ground.

• Rain

• Snow

• Sleet

• Hail

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Type of precipitation that falls through a sky that is ALL below freezing so that the precipitation stays an ice crystal.

• Sleet

• Hail

• Snow

• Freezing rain

Flat, gray clouds that cover most of the sky.

• Stratus

• Cirrus

• Cumulonimbus

• Cumulus

White, puffy clouds with flat bottoms.

• Cumulonimbus

• Cirrus

• Stratus

• Cumulus

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

Huge, tall cloud that starts as a cumulus cloud.

• Stratus

• Cumulonimbus

• Cumulus

Cloud that usually covers all or most of the sky like a blanket and blocks out most direct sunlight.

• Cumulus

• Cumulonimbus

• Stratus

• Cirrus

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-5

High, wispy cloud made of ice crystals

• Cirrus

• Cumulonimbus