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Today's Paper | May 03, 2024

Published 07 Jul, 2012 03:48am

Fun facts about clouds

•    It takes somewhere between a few minutes and an hour for clouds to be created.

•    There are three categories of clouds, depending on their height from the ground, low clouds, medium clouds and high clouds.

•    Low clouds are normally made up of water droplets and have a base under 2,000 metres.

•    Medium clouds are normally made up of water droplets also, but have a base somewhere between 2,000 and 7,000 metres.

•    High clouds are usually made up of ice crystals, and have a base somewhere between 5,500 and 14,000 metres.

• Saturn has clouds. In fact, any planet or moon with an atmosphere has clouds.

•    Clouds appear white because they reflect the sun’s light.

•    Noctilucent clouds are so high, that they can reflect the sun’s light and are visible even during the night.

•    The classic white cloud is known as ‘Cumulus’.

•    Hindus and Buddhists believe that cumulus clouds are the spiritual cousins of elephants.

•    Clouds develop vertically or horizontally.

•  Stratus clouds are clouds that look like great sheets pulled across the sky.  These are the type of clouds that are closest to the ground and may bring rain or drizzle. — Compiled by The Surfer

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