Cumulus clouds might look like weightless tufts of floating cotton, but a single average-sized cloud actually weighs around one point one million pounds.

A closer look

Cumulus clouds might look like weightless tufts of floating cotton, but a single average-sized cloud actually weighs around one point one million pounds. This massive weight is due to the sheer density of millions of water droplets and ice crystals suspended in a specific volume of the atmosphere. The only reason this half-million-kilogram monstrosity does not crash down and crush you is because the dry air beneath it is even heavier and denser, providing enough upward force to keep the water afloat. You are casually walking around every single day with the equivalent weight of one hundred massive elephants hovering directly over your head, held up by nothing more than atmospheric pressure and good luck. Nature is basically dangling a watery anvil over us at all times!