What Makes Clouds Move?

Ok, today I looked up in the sky and saw lots of clouds. I started wondering - what exactly was making the clouds move? Was it the winds in sky pushing them along or are the clouds in a high or low air mass and the whole air mass is moving along carrying the clouds with them? Or a combination of both?

Be nice please! I’m just learning this weather stuff! :smiley: So what makes clouds move?

The earth’s rotation? :lol:

Clouds move because the wind is carrying them along :slight_smile:

You would probably find USA Today’s online weather basics useful. You can find them here.

Or for a starter you can buy a used copy of the USA Today Weather Book (referred to in your other thread) for a few bucks on Alibris

There is plenty of info on this site too: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/clouds.html and is well worth a read. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Yeah, I got the USA Today Weather book ordered.

Until then - I got questions! lol

Most people are right… Clouds are carried by the winds. Sometimes clouds at different levels of the atmosphere will move slower or opposite direction form each other. So that is another way to figure out how clouds move. Believe it or not, the best way I learned how clouds moved by winds by overlaying an upper level wind map on satellite and animate how the clouds would move. I found that clouds take the same direction as the wind, depending on what level are the clouds located.

By the wind and there is different air at any altitude almost.
73 de sv1aaw

Lets not forget the Coriolis force?
That is a great one to look up when learning about weather and forecasting.