At what altitude above the surface would you expect the base of cumuliform clouds if the surface air temperature is 33 C and the dewpoint is 15 C?

To determine the altitude at which the base of cumuliform clouds generally forms, a common method involves calculating the height where the air temperature will cool to the dew point temperature. This is crucial for understanding cloud formation, as clouds develop when air rises and cools to its saturation point.

Using the temperature and dew point provided in the question—33°C for the air temperature and 15°C for the dew point—you can find the difference between these two temperatures, which is 18°C. Since the air cools at a standard lapse rate of approximately 2°C per 1,000 feet of ascent, you can estimate how high you need to ascend for the temperature to drop to the dew point.

Dividing the temperature difference by the lapse rate gives:

[

\text{Altitude} = \frac{18 \text{°C}}{2 \text{°C/1000 ft}} = 9 \text{ (thousands of feet)} = 9,000 \text{ feet}

]

However, in practical meteorological calculations, the base of the cumuliform clouds can typically be found at about 1,000 feet above this figure due to variations in local atmospheric conditions and to convert from the dew point to