SCIENCE1 - The Story of Clouds
Pat and I live atop a ridge overlooking Tucson and the Catalina Mountains and I spend a lot of time appreciating the view, including frequent fascinating cloud formations. So this blog is my attempt to understand how clouds work, the various types of clouds, and how they change. My goal was to take all the cloud photos myself, from my backyard; but that’s going to take a while longer as targets of opportunity. I’ll post this article as is and update it later when I get more of my photos. A sweeping cloud panorama with Tucson in the distance at left and the Catalina Mountains at right. (Courtesy of Bob Ring) How Clouds Work Clouds are made up of tiny colorless water droplets or ice crystals, sometimes a mixture of both. The water droplets form around tiny particles of dust; sea salt; soot from wildfires, volcanoes, and fossil fuel burning; pollution; and certain plant bacteria. These droplets are exceedingly small, averaging about 0.0004 inch in diameter.