Introduction

Introduction:
Introduction
Precipitation occurs when the rising of water vapor cools down below the dew point, and the
atmosphere become fully saturated and forms clouds, and if it is heavy enough to falls down to
earth, the precipitation occurs.
Condensation: Water Vapor rises > Water Vapor cools forming a liquid water or ice crystals
Water Precipitation
Types of Precipitation
 Rain – Is a form of precipitation in a liquid or water droplets
- Rain can be considered rain if the size is above 0.5 mm in diameter. if its just reach below 0.5
mm, it is just considered as drizzle
- Most precipitation of the earth falls as rain
- How we measure rain? through rain gauge
- Rain Gauge – Any instrument that can collect and measure rainfall
- Not all rain falls and reaches the surface of the earth. occasionally the rain falling from the
surface of atmosphere where there is low humidity, rain caused rapid evaporation. As the drops
become smaller, the rate of fall decreases, and they become rain steamer, this streak
precipitation called Virga.
- When rain combines with a gaseous pollutant such as oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, it becomes
acidic. Acidic rain has an adverse effect on plant and water sources, and become a major
problem of industrialized regions.
 Freezing rain – is a form of precipitation that falls as liquid or waterdrops, but freezes when
contact with surface or object.
- Occurs when the surface beneath the cloud is too shallow to freeze raindrops as they fall.
- Freezes in contact
- They are supercooled liquid drops that freeze immediately upon contacting the object forming a
thin layer of ice.
- Freezing drizzle is below 0.5 mm in diameter and freezing rain is above 0.5 in diameter
- When supercooled cloud or fog droplets freeze, forming an accumulation of white milky
granular ice called Rime.
- When there is a substantial accumulation of freezing rain, the result is an Ice storm
 Snow - A Precipitation in forms of ice crystals.
- Air is all cooled or supercooled
- Snow start as snow and snow ends as snow
- Forms below 0°C or 32°F (Temperature is at below freezing)
- The higher, the colder that’s why the mountains get snow than the lower amplitude
- Snowflakes fall through extremely cold air with a low moisture content and accumulate small,
powdery flakes of “dry” snow on the ground.
- For falling snowflakes to survive in air with temperatures much above freezing, the air must be
dry (relative humidity is less than 100 percent), and wet- bulb temperature must be at freezing
or below.
 Sleet – Frozen raindrops that form as cold raindrops (or partially melted snowflakes) refreeze
upon contact with cold objects at the surface.

- Consider the falling snowflake. As it falls into warmer air, it begins to melt. When it falls through
the deep subfreezing surface layer of air, the partially melted snowflake or cold raindrop turns
back into ice, not as a snowflake, but as a tiny ice pellet called sleet.
- When a snowflake reaches the warmer air, it will partially melt and when it falls again in
subfreezing layer surface layer air, it will refreeze into tiny ice pellet
- Unlike snow it is in the form of snowflake, these ice pellets are transparent (or translucent),
with diameters of 5 mm (0.2 in.) or less.
-
 Hail – Transparent opaque ice particles that grows by accumulating super cooled water droplets.
Usually produced in intense thunderstorm
- It is formed when a large graupel or frozen raindrops grows by accretion, the accumulation of
supercooled liquid droplets.
- Graupel are soft, small pellets formed when supercooled water droplets - typically at a
temperature below 32F - freeze onto a snow crystal,
- It is usually produced in storm, when the storm has strong air currents carrying a small ice
particles above freezing level remain suspended because of updrafts.
Hailstones begin as embryos (usually ice particles called graupel) that remain suspended in the cloud by
violent updrafts. The updrafts (or a single broad updraft, as illustrated here) can sweep the ice particles
horizontally through the cloud, producing the hailstone growth. Along their path, the ice particles
collide with supercooled liquid droplets, which freeze on contact. The ice particles eventually grow
large enough and heavy enough to fall toward the ground as hailstone
- In the Philippines there are some cases that hailstone is occurred in a severe thunderstorm.
Hailstones begin as embryos
 remain suspended in the cloud by violent updrafts

 the ice particles collide with supercooled liquid droplets
 The ice particles eventually grow large enough as hailstone
Importance
It is important to study or to understand the difference of each form of precipitation, as it can be

necessary particularly in weather forecasting,

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Introduction:

 Rain – Is a form of precipitation in a liquid or water droplets

 remain suspended in the cloud by violent updrafts

It is important to study or to understand the difference of each form of precipitation, as it can be

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