Short answers, pulled from the story.
A cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, ice crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere. Water primarily comprises these droplets and crystals on Earth.
Luke Howard began truly scientific studies at the beginning of the 19th century in England and used his strong grounding in Latin language to formally classify tropospheric cloud types during 1802. His system became the foundation for modern international classification methods.
Adiabatic cooling occurs when lifting agents cause air parcels containing invisible water vapor to rise and cool until they reach their dew point. Three possible lifting agents drive this process: convective cyclonic frontal or orographic forces.
Cloud cover is most prevalent along low-pressure zones of surface tropospheric convergence encircling Earth near the equator and 50th parallels. Cloudiness tends least prevalent near poles and subtropics close to 30th parallels known as horse latitudes.
Measurements by NASA indicate overall cooling effects from low and mid-level extensive sheets outweigh variable outcomes from vertical development. White cloud tops promote cooling by reflecting shortwave radiation from Sun while water vapor acts as efficient absorber emitting infrared radiation upward and downward creating greenhouse-like warming effects.