Cloud formation & Precipitation Cloud formation     Condensation of water above the Earth surface creates clouds. In general cloud develop in any air mass that becomes saturated (relative humidity become 100%).      Saturation can occur by way of atmospheric mechanism that causes the temperature of an air to be cooled to its dew point.  The following processes can be responsible for the formation of the clouds.      W hen air is forced to rise because of the physical presence of elevated land. As the parcel of air rises, it cools due to adiabatic expansion at a rate of approximately 10° C / km.       The development of clouds and resulting heavy quantities of precipitation along SW coast of India, during the SW Monsoon, is due to these processes.      A rain shadow is a patch of land that has been forced to become a desert because mountain ranges blocked all plant-growing, rainy weather. On o...