A cumulus cloud can weigh 1.1 million pounds

Question

According to the two articles, clouds might look light, but they actually weigh a lot because they're made of water droplets. A typical cloud can weigh about 1 million pounds. Even though they're heavy, clouds float because the air inside them is less dense than the dry air below, keeping them up in the sky.

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh

https://headsup.scoutlife.org/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh/#:~:text=According%20to%20scientists%2C%20the%20weight,the%20equivalent%20of%20100%20elephants.

Answer 1

The claim is that a cumulus cloud can weigh 1.1 million pounds. This claim is backed up by two sources: USGS and a website called Head's Up. The Head's Up source is questionable because no author, published date, or sources are listed. However, the website carries a copyright from Boy Scouts of America. USGS is a government supported website run by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It carries accurate scientific information on geography, geology, meteorology, and other related subjects. Its article was published in 2019 with a corporate author. It is safe to say that the USGS article is a solid source.

After conducting some more research, I uncovered a few more legitimate sources on this topic. BBC says that "a typical cloud weighs around a million tonnes." An paper by weather.gov goes through the math and concludes that a cloud weighs "about 1 billion 400 million pounds." It's interesting that this calculation actually exceeds the 1.1 million pounds in the claim. An article from the Library of Congress that a cloud's weight will "equal about 1,100,000 pounds."

Is it really scientific? According to USGS, cloud's density is around 0.5 grams per cubic meter. A cubic kilometer cloud has 1 billion cubic meters. By multiplying these against the other (1,000,000,000 x 0.5), a cubic kilometer's cloud's density is 500,000 kilograms. 500,000 kilograms converted to imperial units is 1.1 million pounds.

From all these sources, it is safe to agree with the claim: a cloud can weigh 1.1 millions pounds.

Sources:

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh
https://headsup.scoutlife.org/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh/
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh
https://www.weather.gov/media/wrh/online_publications/talite/talite9606.pdf
https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/meteorology-climatology/item/how-much-does-a-cloud-weigh/

Comments

This is a great answer. You can tell how much effort and research you put into this. I enjoy your critical thinking and asking questions; it is helpful. Good job! I know things about clouds now, thank you!