How fast do clouds travel?

Question

No importance behind this question, just really curious.

If anyone could help that would be great.

=]

thanks

Answer 1

the wind

and y  

Answer 2

It depends on how fast a new front is moving in. I don't know where you live but I live in a very active weather front area. In the wintertime

particularly when new fronts move in off the Pacific very fast the clouds shoot across the sky in a couple of minutes. I would say that is very

fast. In the summer they just hang there for hours.

Answer 3

Clouds consist of water vapor, or water in a gaseous state. Gases can move through the air, so obviously clouds can travel, and wherever air pressure is lower, clouds will travel toward those locations.

Answer 4

Many variables here, but the wind speed at the cloud level determines how quickly those clouds will advect.

When you see clouds zipping by, those are typically low clouds under the influence of strong low-level winds (low level being surface to 6,500 ft). These clouds MAY be moving at 25-35 knots (approximately). Mid-level and high-level clouds may be moving even faster (wind speeds generally increase with alitude) but do not look so fast to the naked eye because they are so high in the atmosphere.

Thunderstorms are guided by mid-level winds (10,000-18,000 feet) therefore they move in a different direction than the surface wind. They can really cruise if the atmospheric dynamics are such.

Sorry to reiterate what everyone else said, but I wanted to try to explain it a bit clearer.

Answer 5

It depends on lower level, mid-level, and upper level winds...which steer the clouds. In other words, it depends on the trade winds.

A storm system (in most cases) have clouds that can go as fast as about 60 mph. This often occurs in bow echo thunderstorms which have damaging winds.

But some clouds can also move slowly. Slow-moving thunderstorms....the type that can cause flash floods...usually have clouds that go only about 10 mph.

Answer 6

It depends on the wind speed.