Here is some weather trivia for you which may seem unbelievable until one does the math.
Do you think clouds have any weight? How can they, if they are floating in the air like a balloon filled with helium? If you tie a helium balloon to a kitchen scale it won’t register any weight, so why should a cloud? To answer this question, let me ask if you think air has any weight—that is really the important question. If you know what air pressure and a barometer are, then you know that air does have weight. At sea level, the weight (pressure) of air is about 14 ½ pounds per square inch (1 kilogram per square centimeter).
Since air has weight it must also have density, which is the weight for a chosen volume, such as a cubic inch or cubic meter. If clouds are made up of particles, then they must have weight and density. The key to why clouds float is that the density of the same volume of cloud material is less than the density of the same amount of dry air. Just as oil floats on water because it is less dense, clouds float on air because the moist air in clouds is less dense than dry air.
We still need to answer the question of how much a cloud weighs. To confuse things more, the weight depends on how you define it:
- The weight of the water droplets in the cloud
- The weight of the water droplets plus the weight of the air (mostly above the cloud, pressing down)
We’re only going to look at the weight of the actual cloud particles. One estimate of cumulus cloud density is a density of about 0.5 grams per cubic meter. A 1 cubic kilometer (km3) cloud contains 1 billion cubic meters.
Doing the math: 1,000,000,000 x 0.5 = 500,000,000 grams of water droplets in our cloud. That is about 500,000 kilograms or 1.1 million pounds (about 551 tons). But, that “heavy” cloud is floating over your head because the air below it is even heavier— the lesser density of the cloud allows it to float on the dryer and more dense air.
Sounds scary having all that weight over our heads. It does fall as rain once the cloud reaches a certain density and can’t contain its weight (simply put). So, all you weather nerds can now impress your friends by trying to guess the weight of a cloud as it passes by.
We have high pressure in control of our weather today which will bring about sunny and warm conditions to SW Michigan until our air mass gradually moves into the dog days of summer as we progress into the weekend giving us hot and humid tropical conditions and better chances of rain.
Forecast Discussion:
- Fair weather today A sfc high pressure ridge will continue in control of the wx pattern today and bring fair wx with seasonably warm temps which will reach the lower to middle 80`s. Overall short range guidance consensus and model trends suggest that dry wx should continue through tonight but a few showers may drift into our far wnw fcst area toward daybreak Friday. - Chance of showers and storms Friday A mid to upper level trough will combine with increasing moisture and instability with persistent low level sw flow and forcing from a low level jet to bring scattered showers and storms Friday and Friday night. Organized convection is not expected given rather weak deep layer shear. Although a few hit or miss showers or storms are possible this weekend we expect predominantly dry wx this weekend given lack of a good forcing mechanism for convective initiation to occur. It will be very warm and quite humid this weekend with high temps well into the 80`s and dew point values reaching well into the 60`s to near 70 degrees by Sunday. - Thunderstorms likely Monday Forcing from a low level jet in conjunction with ample moisture and instability in place will result in development of scattered showers and storms Sunday night and Monday. A mid to upper level trough may also give precipitation chances a boost Monday.
Heat indecises over a 100* next week?? Wood tv 8 shows not even a 90″ in it’s 8 day forecast!! Well back to reality currently its 80* degrees out in my area how about another below average day wow!! INDY!!
If you would look at the heat index chart MV has below you would see that 90 degrees is not needed for a heat index of 100or more. In fact a temp as low as 84 can yield a heat index over 100. All comes down to the dew point.
Lol no 100* degrees heat index insight back to reality again currently 69* degrees in my area feels great outside for August 5h INDY
It is now mostly cloudy (clouds are not al that tall so must be light clouds) and the temperature is now 82 here with a dew point of 65.
Slim
Great post MV! Although you lost my wife midway through the second paragraph. Ha!
Heat indices over 100 degrees in Michigan next week? Get ready!
…and it will just make the clouds & air heavier 🙂
Yuck…
The clouds may be heaver but cold air is more dense and heavier than warm air. But warm air can hold more water. So not sure how that plays into the equation. Remember warm air rises and that builds up the clouds. Who the the math expert?
Slim
What a joke of warm weather hype! Ridiculous!
Like I have been saying since May no real heat in sight is right ….INDY
Very interesting post.
Slim
I will be flying through the clouds to Fort Myers beach Florida Saturday into some real heat and humidity check this out low temps in the mid to upper 70’s all week long that’s bad enough……. I will haft to have a lots of ice cold Sprites handy hopefully our poool is cool I will be in it all week long … Definitely going to miss our Fall like weather it’s been a beautiful stretch around here that’s for sure ….Have a good week hopefully I dont get to much sun and buurn lol …INDY
Indy, you are going to see some very hot and humid weather the time you are down there. And you could see some good thunderstorms as well. There used to be a thermometer on the pier not sure if it is still there or not. The pool may not be all that cool but if you are going to Fort Myers Beach the water temperature should be in the low 80’s If you can let us know how things are down there.
Slim
I for sure will Slim thanks for caring!! INDY
Love. This. Post.
This may be the nerdiest post yet…….which is right up my alley.