| Convection: |
The heating of the ground creates bubbles of warm air that rise into the atmosphere. |
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| Topographic Lifting: |
The lifting of air up the side of a mountain. The windward side of a mountain (the side that the wind is blowing against) tends to have more clouds than the leeward side (the side facing away from the wind). |
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| Convergence: |
The meeting of air from several different directions at the earth's surface near low pressure systems. A hurricane (over water) is an example of a low pressure center that causes air to converge at the earth's surface, resulting in severe thunderstorms over land. |
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| Frontal Lifting: |
The lifting of air along a frontal boundary (the front of a storm, for example). Cold fronts and warm fronts force air to rise. The most dramatic cloud formations result from a cold front, because the slope of the front is steeper than a warm front. |
