When a person sees a lot of cumulus clouds in the sky, he realizes that it may rain soon. And at such moments a logical question arises: how much water can fit in the cloud?

Where does the water come from in the clouds

When the sun's rays fall on puddles, rivers, oceans and other sources of liquid, they begin to gradually evaporate the surface. When heated, water molecules turn into steam and rise up. Warm air weighs less than cold, so its particles confidently climb to a great height.

The process of lifting occurs to a certain height until the vapor molecules cool and again begin to condense into moisture. Newly formed particles of water weigh very little, so they are picked up by air currents and fly at about the same level. Accumulating in large numbers, they form clouds.

In the clouds, water is in a solid, liquid and gaseous state. Ice floes are located in the upper part, where the air is colder. When their number becomes too large, wind flows can no longer hold them, and they fall down. Flying to the ground, they pass through warmer air and melt, falling to the surface already in the form of a drop. So the rain appears. Showers begin if there is too much liquid in the cloud, and its particles merge into large drops.

How much water is in the cloud?

Despite the low density, the clouds contain a large number of small drops. A cumulus cloud with a diameter of 100 meters can accommodate up to 20 tons of water (maximum).This figure seems huge, but when it falls to the ground, only 2 mm of precipitation is formed, which will quickly dry out and fly back to the sky in the form of steam.

Usually clouds contain a maximum of 10 g of moisture per cubic meterand if during the rain the drops are too small, many of them will not even meet the ground, but will rise again thanks to the air currents.

Usually in a cubic meter of cloud contains about 10 g of water, and out of 100 square meters. m approximately one millimeter of precipitation falls. In clouds, the moisture concentration can be several times higher, because of which prolonged rainfall begins.