ATMS 120: SP2015

Snodgrass

Name: ________________________
Weekly Challenge Problem #7: Cloud Water
Due: Tuesday April 7, 2015
Clouds form in areas of rising, saturated air that cools as it ascends and condenses water vapor into liquid water
droplets. One question that is often asked is how much water is in a cloud? On the morning of March 30, the
remnants of a long line of thunderstorms passed through the southeast US producing the amazing undulatus
asperatus cloud seen below. First, calculate how much water (in grams) is in the clouds that formed this line of
thunderstorms. Then, convert this amount to gallons. Finally, if all of this water were to fall out of the cloud
and cover the ground directly beneath the storm, how deep would it be in inches? SHOW ALL WORK!

Information you need:

Cloud dimensions: 1250 km long, 100 km wide and 10 km tall.
There are 7.510-7 grams of water in every cubic cm of the cloud (g cm-3)
There are 3785 grams of water in every gallon
1 gallon = 0.003785 m3
1 m = 39.37 inches
1 km = 1000 m
Helpful hints:
1. Use Google to double-check all your unit conversions. Example: type in Convert 1 km^3 to m^3 and see
what you get.
2. When finding the depth of the water, make use of this equation:
(total volume of water in the clouds m3) = (area under clouds m2) * (depth of water m)