Discuss the various forms of precipitation and the specific conditions under which these are formed.
Answers
Answer:
Precipitation is the process by which all forms of water reach back to earth from the atmosphere. Precipitation occurs in the form of rainfall, frost, hail, and dew. Among all, rainfall and snowfall contribute a significant amount of water.
Answer:
Precipitation is the falling of water from the sky in different forms. They all form from the clouds which are raised about 8 to 16 kilometers (4 to 11 miles) above the ground in the earth’s troposphere. Precipitation takes place whenever any or all forms of water particles fall from these high levels of the atmosphere and reach the earth’s surface. The drop to the ground is caused by frictional drag and gravity. When one falling particle drops from the cloud, it leaves behind a turbulent wake, causing faster and continued drops.
The (clouds) crystallized ice may reach the ground as ice pellets or snow or may melt and change into raindrops before reaching the surface of the earth depending on the atmospheric temperatures. For this reason, there are many different types of precipitation namely rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, hail, snow grains, and diamond dust. They are forms of water that fall from the sky’s frozen clouds.
As per Wikipedia,
“In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and “precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate.”
rain-raindrops-seasons-water-macro
Table of Contents
Different Types of Precipitation
1. Rain
2. Snow
3. Sleet (Ice Pellets)
4. Freezing Rain
5. Hail
6. Drizzle
7. Sun Shower
8. Snow Grains
9. Diamond Dust
Different Types of Precipitation
1. Rain
Rain is any liquid that drops from the clouds in the sky. Rain is described as water droplets of 0.5 mm or larger. Droplets less than half a millimeter are defined as a drizzle. Raindrops frequently fall when small cloud particles strike and bind together, creating bigger drops. As this process continues, the drops get bigger and bigger to an extent where they become too heavy to suspend on the air. As a result, the gravity pulls then down to the earth.
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When high in the air, the raindrops start falling as ice crystals or snow but melt when as they proceed down the earth through the warmer air. Rainfall rates vary from time to time, for example, light rain ranges from rates of 0.01 to 0.1 inches per hour, moderate rain from 0.1 to .3 inches per hour, and heavy rain above 0.3 inches per hour. Rain is the most common component of the water cycle and replenishes most of the freshwater on the earth.
2. Snow
Snow occurs almost every time there is rain. However, snow often melts before it reaches the earth’s surface. It is precipitation in the form of virga or flakes of ice water falling from the clouds. Snow is normally seen together with high, thin, and weak cirrus clouds. Snow can at times fall when the atmospheric temperatures are above freezing, but it mostly occurs in sub-freezing air. When the temperatures are above freezing, the snowflakes can partially melt but because of relatively warm temperatures, the evaporation of the particles occurs almost immediately.
This evaporation leads to cooling just around the snowflake and makes it to reach to the ground as snow. Snow has a fluffy, white, and soft structure and its formation is in different shapes and ways, namely flat plates, and thin needles. Each type of snow forms under specific combinations of atmospheric humidity and temperatures. The process of snow precipitation is called snowfall.
3. Sleet (Ice Pellets)
Sleet takes place in freezing atmospheric conditions. Sleet, also known as ice pellets, form when snow falls into a warm layer then melts into the rain and then the rain droplets fall into a freezing layer of air that is cold enough to refreeze the raindrops into ice pellets. Hence, sleet is defined as a form of precipitation composed of small and semitransparent balls of ice. They should not be confused with hailstones as they are smaller in size.
4. Freezing Rain
5. Hail
6. Drizzle
8. Snow Grains
9. Diamond Dust