explain various types of precipitation for 5marks
Answers
Explanation:
Precipitation is a form of water that falls from a cloud. Five main types of precipitation are rain, snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain. Each of the five main forms of precipitation are briefly explained below. Rain is in the form of liquid water.
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.
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.
3.ICE
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
Freezing rain happens when rain falls during below freezing conditions/temperatures. This normally results in the solidification of rain droplets. The raindrops are super-cooled while passing through the sub-freezing layer in the atmosphere and freezes by the time it reaches the ground. During freezing rains, it is common to witness an even coating of ice on cars, streets, trees, and power lines. The resulting coating of ice is called glaze and it can build up to a thickness of several centimeters. Freezing rains pose a huge threat to normal operations of roadway transportation, aircraft, and power lines.
5.HAIL
Hailstones are big balls and irregular lumps of ice that fall from large thunderstorms. Hail is purely solid precipitation. As opposed to sleets that can form in any weather when there are thunderstorms, hailstones are predominately experienced in the winter or cold weather. Hailstones are mostly made up of water ice and measure between 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) and 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter. This ranges in size of a pea’s diameter to that larger than a grapefruit.