Precipitation Phenomena

Precipitation is any product of the condensation

of atmospheric water vapour that falls under
gravity.
The main forms of precipitation include drizzle,
rain, sleet, snow or Snow flakes, hail & shower.
Precipitation occurs when a local portion of the
atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapour,
so that the water condenses and "precipitates".
Whilst falling through different layers of
atmosphere, the water drops may freeze into soft
ice(snow) or hail
 Precipitation contd……
 Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but
suspensions, because the water vapour does not
condense sufficiently to precipitate and do not fall on
ground.
 Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to
air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding
water vapour to the air.
 Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle
, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on
the planet
 Sometime precipitation evaporates completely, and
does not reach ground. It may then visible as vertical
streamers below clouds and is called ‘Virga’.
 Different Forms of Precipitation
Liquid Precipitation:
Drizzle: Fine drops of water, diameter less than 0.5
mm, Termed heavy or light depending on intensity of
precipitation.
Rain: Medium size water drops falling mainly from
layer type of clouds, diameter larger than 0.5 mm.
Termed heavy or light depending on intensity of
precipitation.
Clouds: Same as for rain/drizzle.
Freezing Precipitation
Freezing Rain/Drizzle: The water drops freeze on
impact with cold ground.
 Frozen Precipitaion

Snow or Snow Flakes: Frozen rain in the form of

small ice.
Snow Pellets: White opaque grains of ice, very
soft and spherical or conical in shape, diameter 2
& 5 mm.
Ice Pellets: Transparent pellets of ice, frozen
hard, less than 0.5 mm Diameter
Hail : Solid ice pellets falling from thunder
clouds with diameter size greater than 0.5 mm.
Sleet: Is a mixture of rain and snow.
 Cloud & Precipitation
Cloud Precipitation

Stratus Drizzle

Altostratus Drizzle, snowflakes

Nimbostratus Rain, snowflakes

Cumulus Showers: rain, snow

Cumulonimbus Showers, rain, snow, hail

 Stability of the Air, Cloud Form and Associated Precipitation

STABLE AIR
Stratiform clouds
Layer cloud
Slow upwards motion
Cloud forms slowly
Air forced upwards
Orographic, frontal &
turbulence clouds
UNSTABLE AIR
Cumuliform clouds
Discrete clouds
Fast upwards motion
Cloud forms quickly
Air rises spontaneously
Orographic, frontal &
convection clouds
 Formation Processes of Clouds
• Clouds develop in any air mass that
becomes saturated(Relative humidity
becomes 100 %)
• Cloud formation is associated with rising
air
• Rising air cools adiabatically
• The Air reaches its dewpoint
• Cloud is formed(Shape) depends upon
the stability of rising air.
 How Rain forms ?
Step 1: Water is evaporated and turn into water vapours.

Step 2: Water vapours starts to rise up because of any reason (eg.) Wind
blowing over mountains and starts to rise, due to warm air rising etc.

Step 3: When these water vapors starts to rise, their temperature drops
and then the process of condensation starts(Water vapour in the air
condenses as water liquid or ice around condensation nuclei in free
air(usually as a visible cloud). ie. Water again turns from gaseous state to
liquid state.

Step 4: The size of the water drops continue to increase due to

continuous condensation, and when the water drop is big enough that its
weight become heavier then the air, so it drops down in the form of
rain(Due to gravity)
 Types of Clouds/Rainfall (Formation)
1. Convectional
Clouds are formed by insolation.
The air which becomes warmer than surroundings will
rise and cool adiabatically leading to the formation of
heap type clouds and consequent convectional
thundershowers.
2. Orogaphic :
When the moist air stream moves upwards against the
hill top, due to adiabatic cooling, orographic clouds
and rainfall occur.
Indian South West monsoon is a typical example of an
orographical rainfall.
.
 Formation of clouds
3. Cyclonic or frontal : When different types of
airmasses like warm airmass and cold
airmass meet and due to Frontgenesis,
frontal type of rainfall occurs.
4. Turbulent type : When the terrain or the
surface is rough, the air stream is lifted
upwards and turbulent clouds like
stratocumulus cloud form
Orographic Rainfall
 Cloud Formation Processes
Deposition of water above the Earth's surface creates clouds. In
general, clouds develop in any air mass that becomes saturated (
relative humidity becomes 100%). Saturation can occur by way
of atmospheric mechanisms that cause the temperature of an air
mass to be cooled to its dew point or frost point. The following
mechanisms or processes can achieve this outcome causing
clouds to develop:
1. Orographic uplift occurs when air is forced to rise because of
the physical presence of elevated land. As the parcel rises it cools
as a result of adiabatic expansion at a rate of approximately 10°
Celsius per 1000 meters until saturation. The development of
clouds and resulting heavy quantities of precipitation along the
west coast of Canada are mainly due to this process.
 Cloud Formation Contd…….
2. Convectional lifting is associated with surface heating of the
air at the ground surface. If enough heating occurs, the mass of
air becomes warmer and lighter than the air in the surrounding
environment, and just like a hot air balloon it begins to rise,
expand, and cool. When sufficient cooling has taken place
saturation occurs forming clouds. This process is active in the
interior of continents and near the equator forming
cumulus clouds and or cumulonimbus clouds (thunderstorms).
The rain that is associated with the development of thunderstorm
clouds is delivered in large amounts over short periods of time in
extremely localized areas.
.
•.
 Cloud Formation Process
• 3. Convergence or frontal lifting takes place when two
masses of air come together. In most cases, the two air
masses have different temperature and moisture
characteristics. Oneof the air masses is usually warm
and moist, while the other is cold and dry. The leading
edge of the latter air mass acts as an inclined wall or
front causing the moist warm air to be lifted. Of
course the lifting causes the warm moist air mass to
cool due to expansion resulting in saturation. This
cloud formation mechanism is common at the mid-
latitudes where cyclones form along the polar front
and near the equator where the trade winds meet at
the intertropical convergence zone
 Cloud Formation contd….
4. Radiative cooling occurs when the Sun is no longer
supplying the ground and overlying air with energy derived
from solar insolation (e.g., night). Instead, the surface of the
Earth now begins to lose energy in the form of long wave
radiation which causes the ground and air above it to cool.
The clouds that result from this type of cooling take the form
of surface fog.
•Of course these causes of cloud development do not always
act in a singular fashion. It is possible to get combinations of
all four types, such as when convection and orographic uplift
cause summer afternoon cloud development and showers in
the mountains
 Process(Formation) of Rain drops(Precipitation)

Bergeron Ice crystal theory:

 Inside a cloud, both ice crystal and water droplets coexist
side by side.
The saturation vapour pressure over ice crystal is much less
compared to that of over water droplets
Because of which the water vapour evaporates from the
water surface and deposits over the ice crystal which keeps
on growing bigger and increases in weight.
Due to gravity it starts falling out of the cloud and due to
lower level warming up, ice crystal melts and reaches the
ground as raindrops.
This was found out by a Norwegian meteorologist Bergeron
and hence it is called Bergeron ice crystal theory.
 Process(Formation) of Rain
drops(Precipitation)
Coalescence theory : The bigger drops inside
the cloud collides with the smaller drops and
eventually they become very big and come out
of the cloud as raindrops.
Wake theory: In the cloud, when big or giant
drops move, leavening a vacuum behind into
which the small drops are sucked in and join
with big drops. The big drops fall out of the
cloud as raindrops.
 Type of Cloud where the Rainbow forms
Cumulonimbus covers the sky completely, its top
cannot be seen and hence it cannot be visually
distinguished from Nimbostratus. However if
precipitation is experienced, they can be
distinguished Cumulonimbus gives showers,
whereas Nimbostratus gives continuous
precipitation with little variation in intensity.
However, in both cases, the precipitation may
sometimes evaporate before reaching the ground
and is then visible streamers called ‘Virga”/Rainbow
below the base of the cloud.
 Type of Weather Expected in an Anti Cyclone
 Cirrus clouds in bands or filaments aligned towards the
direction of the storm centre.
 
 Unusually clear visibility may occur.
 
 Sometimes peculiar dark red/copper color of sky is seen at
sunset before a TRS
 
 Increase of wind force as the pressure falls
 
 Threatening appearance of dense, heavy clouds on the
horizon
 
 Frequent lightning may be seen
 
 Succession of squalls, with or without rain