What are updrafts?

An updraft is like a invisible slide that helps hot air and clouds go up in the sky.

Imagine you're sitting on a warm sunny day outside. You feel the heat from the ground warming your feet, right? That’s just like what happens with updrafts, they’re created when the ground gets warm, especially on sunny days. The warm ground heats the air just above it, making that air lighter and want to float up.

Think of a balloon filled with hot air, it rises because the hot air is less dense than the cooler air around it. Updrafts work the same way: the warm air near the ground rises up like a bubble, taking along any tiny water droplets or bits of clouds with it.

When the rising warm air cools down higher up in the sky, those little water droplets can join together and form clouds. That’s why you often see fluffy white clouds on a sunny day, they're made by updrafts doing their invisible work!