Precipitation What is Precipitation Precipitation is any form

Precipitation

What is Precipitation? • Precipitation is any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface. • Precipitation ALWAYS comes from the clouds. • Cloud droplets combine with other droplets and become heavy enough to fall from the cloud.

Types of Precipitation • In warm parts of the world, precipitation is almost always rain. • In colder parts of the world, precipitation may fall as snow or freezing rain. • Common types of precipitation include rain, snow, freezing rain, hail and sleet.

Types of Precipitation • The most common type of precipitation is rain. • Sleet is raindrops that freeze into ice particles in the air. • When rain drops do not freeze in the air, but freeze when they touch a cold surface they are called freezing rain.

Types of Precipitation • Hail forms only inside of clouds during thunderstorms. • Hail is compared to an onion because of its many layers. • Snowflakes have an endless number of different shapes, all with 6 sides. • When water vapor is converted directly into ice crystals it is called snow.

Measuring Precipitation • Meteorologists measure rainfall with a rain gauge. • A rain gauge is a can or tube that collects rainfall. • Snow is measured by using a ruler. • Of course, light, fluffy snow contains far less water than heavy, wet snow.

Controlling Precipitation • Long periods of unusually low precipitation are called droughts. • The most common way of producing rain through drought weather is called cloud seeding.

Cloud Seeding