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I see a cloud! I bet that means it's
about to rain.

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Whoa, whoa, whoa!

3
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That's a common mistake. Clouds don't just produce precipitation like rain, snow, hail, and sleet.

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We play a major role in
balancing temperature and protecting life on Earth.

5
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I'm a cumulus cloud, a large puffy cloud that produces little to no precipitation at all.

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How do clouds balance temperature?

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During the day Earth is heated by the Sun. If skies are clear, more energy reaches the Earth's surface and

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it leads to warmer temperatures.  However, if skies are cloudy some of the

9
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Sun's rays are reflected off the cloud
droplets back into space.

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Less of the Sun's energy is able to reach the surface leading to cooler temperatures.

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Does the same thing happen at night?

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At night the opposite is true.

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The clouds are like a blanket, trapping the heat already absorbed by the surface and keeping temperatures warmer.

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But, if the sky is clear at night, heat from the surface quickly escapes into space, making temperatures cooler.

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Are all clouds the same?

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Just like people, clouds are different too.

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Clouds are classified by their appearance and by their height in the sky.

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Here are some of my friends, Cirrus and Stratus.

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Thanks, Cloudy!

20
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There's more to clouds than I knew.

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Clouds are so important that NASA has missions to study us.

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If you want to learn more about clouds, visit www.nasa.gov.

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Bye guys!