Comprehension Check 5-11

What do we call rain that freezes into small, hard balls of ice?

Hail.

What are snowflakes made of?

Water.

How many sides or points to snowflakes have?

Six.

Why must you melt ten inches of snow to get one inch of water?

A lot of the snow is actually air, so only a small part of it is actual water.

Explain how hail is formed.

In very high up clouds, pieces of ice are formed. These ice particles fall down to lower clouds but are pushed back up by them and are wrapped in ice. The process repeats until the hail is too heavy for the clouds to keep up.

Describe the appearnce of the following clouds:

cirrostratus

Sheets of cloud found very high up in the sky

stratocumulus

Piles of cloud layed on top of each other

cirrocumulus

Feathery clouds found high up in the sky

What does nimbus mean?

Rain or storm.

Compare the rain from nimbostratus clouds to the rain from cumulonimbus clouds.

Nimbostratus clouds bring steady rain or snow that usually lasts longer than the cumulonimbus clouds' rain, which generally make heavy but quick pours.