 Abstract We have developed a simple approximation for the absorption, extinction and scattering coefficients, infrared emittance, single-scattering albedo, and asymmetry factor of water clouds within the 0-00-μm spectral region. The aforementioned cloud-scattering characteristics are obtained as continuous functions of the wavelength λ liquid water content W, effective r eff, and effective v eff of the droplet-size distribution. The accuracy of the proposed approximation is shown to be within 0% for the most types of water clouds when compared to the exact Mie theory calculation and integration over the size distribution. At the same time the required computer time is reduced by factor of 000-000. Journal: Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology Volume/Issue: Volume 00: Issue 00 DOI: https://doi.org/00.0000/0000-0000(0000)000<0000: