Exam 5: Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds

Water vapor cannot condense onto hygroscopic nuclei particles at a relative humidity less than 100 percent.

List the main types of fog, and then briefly explain how each one forms. Where might you expect each of these different types of fog to form?

The scattering effect of dry haze produces a ____ color when viewed against a dark background and a ____ tint when viewed against a light-colored background.

Even at high elevations where cirrus clouds are found, liquid water still exists in the clouds.

If fog is forming in Denver, Colorado (located on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains), and the wind is blowing from the east, then the fog is most likely ____.

In the United States, the frequency of days with dense fog is very low in places like Utah, Arizona, and Montana.

Suppose the sky is covered with stratus clouds. How might you determine whether middle or high clouds are also present?

Explain why clouds form in rising air.

What kinds of information about clouds could you hope to determine using infrared and visible satellite photographs?

These types of clouds make the Sun appear as a dimly visible round disk.

Particles that serve as surfaces on which water vapor may condense are called ____.

Radiation fog forms best on a ____.

Frost forms when the dew point temperature is at or below freezing.

High cirriform clouds are composed almost entirely of ice crystals. In tropical regions, air temperatures low enough to freeze all liquid water usually occur only above 6,000 m (about 20,000 feet). In polar regions, however, these same temperatures may be found at altitudes as low as 3,000 m (about 10,000 feet). Hence, while you may observe cirrus clouds at 3,600 m (about 12,000 feet)over northern Alaska, you will not see them at that elevation above southern Florida.

To a weather forecaster a clear sky is one where no clouds are present. When there are between ____ and ____ clouds covering the sky, there are a few clouds present.

Distinguish among dry haze, wet haze, and fog.

When temperatures are below freezing, the temperature to which air must be cooled in order for a phase change (from liquid to ice)to occur is called the ____.

In 1802, the French naturalist ____________________ proposed the first system for classifying clouds.

Clouds are classified by their ____.

Mammatus clouds most frequently form on the underside of ____ clouds.