CLOUD TRAVEL -- Nick T. of Olympia, WA wanted to know if "it was possible for a cloud to travel around the world". Nick (age 12) asked "out of curiosity..." -- 6/1/03

Nick asks a very valid question. And our growing use of satellite imagery may help to shed light on this.

If one watches satellite imagery animations on the web (click on mpeg animation) or on TV, one may think that it is easy to see how clouds move. Unfortunately in this perspective, what we see are cloud PATTERNS and SYSTEMS, but NOT the individual clouds.

When scientists tried to track individual clouds to determine wind patterns (direction and speed), they discovered that if they tried to track the individual cloud elements for too long a time period, their wind estimates had large errors. This is because most individual clouds have very short lifetimes.

To better understand this, just look up at some clouds. If you watch them, even for a few minutes, you will notice that they typically change shape or character. Some clouds may disappear before your eyes, while others may form. That's why we here at HOW THE WEATHERWORKS^TM call clouds the ultimate transformers. And, cumulus clouds (the puffy ones) are the best transformers of all.

So, Nick, I am afraid that clouds really can't take that trip around the world. But, they are still fun to watch. So keep looking up and enjoy the sky show!

© How the Weatherworks

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