Mammatus Clouds
Image credits: Vincent Fryhover
Image credits: Ken Lewis -
Image credits: HeavyLight.ca
Lenticular Clouds
Image credits: Jean-Michel Priaux
Image credits: Dementievskiy Ivan
Image credits: Brian Middleton
Undulatus Asperatus
Image credits: JΩSH
Image credits: wittap
Image credits: JΩSH
Fallstreak Hole
Image credits: lookseenseen
Image credits: mtnrockdhh
Image credits: ladigue_99
Polar Stratospheric Cloud
Image credits: Alan R. Light
Image credits: FotoLind
Image credits: FotoLind
Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz
Image credits: drdouglascordeiro.blogspot.com
Image credits: pfjc&pfjc2
Image credits: drdouglascordeiro.blogspot.com
Roll Clouds
Image credits: Kick Petroff
Image credits: apod.nasa.gov
Anvil Clouds
Image credits: Nicholas_T
Image credits: hide
Image credits: *Lampy*
Clouds can be remarkably beautiful but they are also very powerful. It is mind boggling to think that most clouds weigh more than 6,269 blue whales!
The calculation is based on a typical cumulus cloud (the most common cloud) which is about 1 cubic kilometer in volume and 2 km above ground, with an air density estimated to be at about 1.007 kg/m3 and the clouds (water droplets) are less dense and come close to 1.003 kg/m3 (which is why they float), and there are estimated to be 1,000,000 cubic meters of droplets in an average cumulus cloud.
The weight can be calculated using this equation (density by volume by a factor):
1.003 kg/m3x 1,000x 1 km3 = 1,003,000,000 kg
Which is over a billion kilograms of droplets or close to 2.2 billion pounds. Assuming a blue whale is close to 160 (160,000 kg) tones in weight, a cumulus cloud weighs as much as 6,268.75 blue whales!
It’s truly amazing to think clouds weigh so much and that they are floating overhead!