"In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull."
Rain, snow or other forms of moisture that fall from the atmosphere onto the earth's surface.
Water cycle: This refers to the continuous movement of water from the earth's surface to the atmosphere and back again.
Atmosphere: This topic focuses on the atmospheric conditions that contribute to precipitation, such as humidity, air pressure, and temperature.
Types of precipitation: There are various types of precipitation, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail, among others. Understanding the different types is critical for accurate forecasting.
Precipitation measurement techniques: There are several techniques for measuring precipitation, such as rain gauges, radar, and satellites.
Climate change and precipitation: Climate change is affecting precipitation patterns globally, and understanding its impact is becoming increasingly important in hydrology.
Precipitation forecasting: This topic focuses on predicting the timing, intensity, and duration of precipitation based on various factors, such as atmospheric conditions and historical data.
Precipitation variability: Precipitation can vary widely both temporally and spatially, and understanding this variability is important in water management.
Floods and droughts: Precipitation events can lead to either floods or droughts, and understanding the dynamics behind these phenomena is critical when forecasting extreme weather events.
Evapotranspiration: Understanding the processes of evaporation and transpiration is vital in hydrology, as they affect the amount of water available for precipitation.
Water management and policy: Finally, understanding the policies and management strategies around precipitation is necessary for effective water resource management.
Rain: This is the most common type of precipitation. It occurs when water droplets in the atmosphere become too heavy to remain suspended and fall to the ground. Rain typically falls from clouds that are warmer than freezing.
Snow: Snow occurs when the temperature in the atmosphere is below freezing, and water droplets freeze into ice crystals. When the temperature is low enough, these crystals stick together and form snowflakes, which fall to the ground.
Sleet: Sleet is a mixture of rain and snow. It occurs when snowflakes melt into raindrops as they fall through a warm layer of air, then refreeze as they fall through a cold layer of air closer to the ground.
Freezing rain: Freezing rain occurs when the temperature is below freezing at the surface, but there is a warm layer of air above it. Raindrops fall through the warm air and then freeze on contact with the cold surface, forming a layer of ice.
Hail: Hail is formed when a thunderstorm carries raindrops up into a freezing layer of the atmosphere. The raindrops freeze and become ice pellets that can grow in size as they are carried back up by updrafts in the storm.
Graupel: Graupel, also known as soft hail or snow pellets, is formed when snowflakes fall through supercooled water droplets and become coated in a layer of ice.
Virga: This is precipitation that evaporates before reaching the ground. It often takes the form of streaks or wispy threads hanging down from the bottoms of clouds.
Drizzle: Similar to rain, but with smaller water droplets that fall more slowly. Drizzle often occurs in low clouds or fog.
Rainstorm: A particularly heavy rain event with high precipitation accumulation over several hours.
Monsoon: A seasonal wind pattern that brings heavy rain to a region for an extended period of time. Monsoons often occur in tropical regions.
Cloud burst: A very heavy and sudden downpour of rain from a thunderstorm. It can cause flash flooding and landslides.
Black ice: A thin layer of ice that forms on a road, making it very slippery and dangerous to drive on.
"The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail."
"Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and 'precipitates' or falls."
"Fog and mist are not precipitation but colloids because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate."
"Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air."
"Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud."
"Moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is typically active when freezing rain occurs."
"In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation."
"Most precipitation occurs within the tropics and is caused by convection."
"Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land."
"The globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres (39 in)."
"Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes."
"Global warming is already causing changes to weather, increasing precipitation in some geographies, and reducing it in others, resulting in additional extreme weather."
"Precipitation may occur on other celestial bodies."
"Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, hosts methane precipitation."
"Methane precipitation on Titan has been observed as rain puddles at its equator and polar regions."
"The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail."
"Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing fresh water on the planet."
"Thundersnow is possible within a cyclone's comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands."
"The movement of the monsoon trough, or intertropical convergence zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah regions."