Chemical Compound of water=H2O. Image from http://www.lakelandschools.us/lh/lburris/pages/bonds.htm
Water comes in three different forms: liquid, solid, and gas. Each state has their own unique properties and processes. In our daily lives we can only see a few properties of water, such as lakes, rivers, precipitation, condensation, and ice. Precipitation includes rain, snow, hail, and sleet. Snow and rain are the most common in Colorado. Precipitation is the result of condensation in which water evaporates and turns into liquid water droplets known as clouds. When enough water droplets collide together and build up in size, they eventually fall back down to the ground. Snow is formed in a similar way, but with and extra variable: ice crystals. Due to cold temperatures, water molecules freeze and produce ice crystals, those ice crystals build up in size and fall just like rain.
Big cumulonimbus cloud bringing in heavy rain, hail, and thunderstorms. Image from http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/biggest-hailstone-ever-arrives-in-colorado/
Clouds such as cumulonimbus can sometimes produce tornadoes due to strong cold fronts, lots of humidity, and strong jet streams. Tornadoes are basically rotating columns of air. Wind speeds from tornadoes varies from 50 mph to over 300 mph and can travel around 30-80 mph on land. This makes tornadoes very unpredictable and dangerous. Sometimes funnel clouds can be mistaken with tornadoes, the main difference between them is that a funnel cloud does not touch the ground.
Tornado in Virgina.
Image from http://kissrichmond.com/the-804/bmorris/tornado-preparedness-day-in-virginia/
