Weather and Seasons — Answer Key
Part A: Fill in the Blank
Write the missing word or number on each line.
1. The three main steps of the water cycle are evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
After water evaporates and condenses into clouds, the droplets get heavy and fall back to Earth as precipitation — rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
2. When water vapor cools and turns back into tiny water drops, it is called condensation.
Condensation is the opposite of evaporation: as warm vapor rises into cooler air, it loses heat and changes back into tiny liquid droplets that form clouds.
3. Thin wispy clouds found very high in the sky are called cirrus clouds.
Cirrus clouds form so high up that they are made of ice crystals, giving them a thin, feathery, wispy look like brushstrokes across the sky.
4. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are all forms of precipitation.
Precipitation is the science word for any water that falls from clouds, whether it lands as liquid rain or as frozen snow, sleet, or hail.
5. Water that falls from clouds and flows into rivers and lakes is called runoff.
Runoff is the rainwater that doesn't soak into the ground; instead it runs downhill across the land and gathers in streams, rivers, and lakes.
6. Clouds form when water vapor rises and cools in the sky.
Water vapor is the invisible gas form of water; once it rises high enough, the cooler air turns it back into the tiny droplets we see as clouds.
7. The sun provides the heat that drives the water cycle.
Without the sun's heat, water in oceans and lakes would never warm up enough to evaporate, so the entire water cycle would stop.
8. A cloud that touches the ground is called fog.
Fog is really just a cloud that has formed at ground level instead of high in the sky, which is why walking through fog feels damp and misty.
9. Snowflakes form when water droplets inside a cloud freeze.
When the air inside a cloud is below freezing, the water droplets freeze around tiny dust specks and grow into the six-sided ice crystals we call snowflakes.
Part B: Matching
Match each item on the left to the correct answer on the right.
1. Match each cloud type to its description.
Cumulus
→ White and puffy like cotton
Thin and wispy, found high up
Stratus
→ Flat and gray, covers the sky
White and puffy like cotton
Cirrus
→ Thin and wispy, found high up
Tall and dark, brings storms
Cumulonimbus
→ Tall and dark, brings storms
Flat and gray, covers the sky
Each cloud has a clue in its name and shape: cumulus means "heap" so they look puffy, stratus means "layer" so they spread flat, cirrus means "curl" so they look wispy, and cumulonimbus is a giant cumulus that has grown tall enough to bring thunderstorms.