In one aspect, methods of determining a size distribution of water droplets in a cloud are described herein. In some embodiments, a method of determining a size distribution of water droplets in a cloud comprises sampling a depth of the cloud with a beam of electromagnetic radiation, measuring a scattering signal of the electromagnetic radiation returned from the cloud over a range of field of view angles to provide a measured scattering curve [ptotal(θ)], removing a portion of the measured scattering curve, replacing the removed portion with an extrapolation of the remaining measured scattering curve to provide an estimated scattering curve, and determining a first estimate droplet size distribution [n(1)(D)] from the estimated scattering curve.