PRECIPITATION

Precipitation: Precipitation may be defined as water in liquid or solid forms falling to the
earth’s surface. Precipitation is measured in inches, centimeters and millimeters. The first step in
precipitation is condensation. The process of condensation involves a change from water vapour
to liquid/solid, while the process of precipitation involves on the falling out of that water as rain,
snow, hail street etc. When the cloud droplets, ice crystals grow to such a large size as to
overcome the normal buoyancy and updraft in-the atmosphere does precipitation occur. It means
that some special processes must operate in a cloud from which precipitation falls. (Coalescence
is the merging of two colliding water drops into a single larger drop). The precipitated moisture
falling on the ground takes various forms: Drizzle, Rain, Glaze, Sleet, Snow, Hail etc.
Rain
Rain develops when growing cloud droplets become too heavy to remain in the cloud and
as a result, fall toward the surface as rain. Rain can also begin as ice crystals that collect each
other to form large snowflakes. As the falling snow passes through the freezing level into
warmer air, the flakes melt and collapse into rain drops. Rain is precipitation of liquid water
particles either in the form of drops having diameter greater than 0.5 mm or in the form of
smaller widely scattered drops. When the precipitation process is very active, the lower air is
moist and the clouds are very deep, rainfall is in the form of heavy downpour. On occasions,
falling raindrops completely evaporate before reaching the ground.
Drizzle: It is fairly uniform precipitation composed of fine drops of water having diameter less
than 0.5 mm small and uniform size and seems to be floated in the air, it is referred as drizzle. If
the drops in a drizzle completely evaporates before reaching the ground, the condition is referred
to as ‘mist’.
Hail
Precipitation of small pieces of ice with diameter ranging from 5 to 50 mm or something
more is known as hail. Hailstorms are frequent in tropics. In India, the period from March to
May offers the ideal condition for hailstorms. It is the most dreaded and destructive form of
precipitation produced in thunderstorms or cumulonimbus clouds.
Hail is a large frozen raindrop produced by intense thunderstorms, where snow and rain
can coexist in the central updraft. As the snowflakes fall, liquid water freezes onto them forming
ice pellets that will continue to grow as more and more droplets are accumulated. Upon reaching
the bottom of the cloud, some of the ice pellets are carried by the updraft back up to the top of
the storm.
As the ice pellets once again fall through the cloud, another layer of ice is added and the hail
stone grows even larger. Typically the stronger the updraft, the more times a hail stone repeats
this cycle and consequently, the larger it grows. Once the hail stone becomes too heavy to be
supported by the updraft, it falls out of the cloud toward the surface. The hail stone reaches the
ground as ice since it is not in the warm air below the thunderstorm long enough to melt before
reaching the ground.
Freezing rain
Super cooled droplets freezing on impact Ice storms can be the
most devastating of winter weather phenomena and are often the
cause of automobile accidents, power outages and personal
injury. Ice storms result from the accumulation of freezing rain,
which is rain that becomes super cooled and freezes upon impact
with cold surfaces. Freezing rain is most commonly found in a
narrow
band
on the
cold
side of a warm front, where surface
temperaturesare at or just below
freezing.The diagram below shows a
typical temperature profile for freezing
rain with the red line indicating the
atmosphere's temperature at any given
altitude. The vertical line in the center
of the diagram is the freezing line. Temperatures to the left of this line are below freezing, while
temperatures to the right are above freezing.
Freezing rain develops as falling snow encounters a layer of warm air deep enough for the snow
to completely melt and become rain. As the rain continues to fall, it passes through a thin layer of
cold air just above the surface and cools to a temperature below freezing. However, the drops
themselves do not freeze, a phenomena called supercooling (or forming "supercooled drops").
When the supercooled drops strike the frozen ground (power lines, or tree branches), they
instantly freeze, forming a thin film of ice, hence freezing rain.
Sleet - frozen raindrops that bounce on impact with the ground.Progressing further ahead of the
warm front, surface temperatures continue to decrease and the freezing rain eventually changes
over to sleet. Areas of sleet are located on the colder side
(typically north) of the freezing rain band. It refers to
precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow. It
consists of small pellets of transparent ice, 5 mm or less in
diameter. It refers to a frozen rain that forms when
rain falling to the earth passing through a layer of
cold air and freezes. This happens when

temperature is very low. It is not commonly

seen in India expect high ranges, that too in
winter, in extreme north and northeast India.
Sleet is less prevalent than freezing rain and is defined as frozen raindrops that bounce on impact
with the ground or other objects. The diagram below shows a typical temperature profile for sleet
with the red line indicating the atmosphere's temperature at any given altitude. The vertical line
in the center of the diagram is the freezing line. Temperatures to the left of this line are below
freezing, while temperatures to the right are above freezing. Sleet is more difficult to forecast
than freezing rain because it develops under more specialized atmospheric conditions. It is very
similar to freezing rain in that it causes surfaces to become very slick, but is different because its
easily visible.
Snow - It is the precipitation of white and opaque grains of ice. Snow is the precipitation of solid
water mainly in the form of branched hexagonal crystals
of stars. In winter, when temperatures are below freezing
in the whole atmosphere, the ice crystals falling from the
Altostratus do not melt and reach the ground as snow-an
aggregate of ice crystals.Progressing even further away
from the warm front, surface temperatures continue to
decrease and the sleet changes over to snow. Snowflakes

are simply aggregates of ice crystals that collect to each

other as they fall toward the surface. The diagram below
shows a typical temperature profile for snow with the red
line indicating the atmosphere's temperature at any given
altitude. The vertical line in the center of the diagram is the
freezing line. Temperatures to the left of this line are below
freezing, while temperatures to the right are above freezing.
Since the snowflakes do not pass through a layer of air
warm enough to cause them to melt, they remain intactand
reach the ground as snow.
Isohyets-Isohyets are the lines connecting various locations, having an equal amount of
precipitation.
Process of Precipitation:
Precipitation is caused by condensation of water vapours of the air mass. The ascending air mass
with sufficient amount of water vapours becomes saturated due to adiabatic cooling.
Condensation of water vapours leads to the formation of clouds. Every cloud contains updraft
and downdraft.The development and height of the clouds depend upon the updraft. Stronger the
updraft, greater is the height of the cloud. When the liquid water increases, the strength of the
updraft decreases and downdraft starts increasing. As a result, precipitation is produced.Even
though all clouds contain water, but some produce precipitation while others do not. In certain
cases precipitated moisture falls from the clouds, but it gets evaporated from the atmosphere
before reaching the earth surface
Precipitation occurs only when the cloud
droplets or ice crystals grow to such a size
that it can overcome the updrafts in the
atmosphere. It means that some special
processes are working in a cloud from
which precipitation falls.
There are two processes which can
explain these mechanisms:
1. Bergeron Process.
2. Collision – Coalescence Process.
1. Bergeron Process:
In this process, the clouds contain a mixture of ice crystals and super-cooled water droplets.
When an ice crystal collides with a droplet of super-cooled water, it induces freezing of the
droplet. This process is based on two properties of water.
First property:
The water droplets in a cloud do not freeze at 0°C but remain in the form of water up to -40°C. It
is called super-cooled water. Super-cooled water tends to freeze, if it is disturbed. Therefore,
super cooled water requires nuclei on which these can freeze. These nuclei are called freezing
nuclei. However, freezing nuclei are sparse in the atmosphere.Thus when the ascending air
currents rise well above the freezing level, some of the water droplets will be changed into ice. If
a single ice crystal is introduced into a cloud of super cooled water droplets, the entire cloud
rapidly changes to an all-ice cloud.
Second property of water:
Saturation vapour pressure (es) over ice crystal is lower than it is over water. Vapour pressure
gradient is set up between water and ice crystals. The ice crystals grow at the cost of super
cooled water. When these ice crystals become sufficiently large, they start falling out of the
cloud. These ice crystals melt before reaching the ground and fall as rain.
ii. Collision – Coalescence Process:
This process is applicable to those clouds where the base of such clouds do not extend beyond
the freezing level. These clouds are called warm clouds. These clouds contain large number of
cloud droplets of different sizes. The large drops grow at the cost of smaller ones. As such, they
collide with the smaller droplets which are captured and become a part of it.
In a big cloud, the cloud droplets are repeatedly carried upward and downward by updrafts and
downdrafts. Hence, these drops quickly reach the required size. As regards the required size of
rain drops, it is to be noted that water drops must have a diameter of more than 100µ.
The cloud droplets collide to form particles of bigger size with diameter of 500µ. This is the size
of the water droplets in drizzle. Further collisions increase drop size and yield rain. It has been
found that a drop of 500µ diameter would hardly take 10 minutes to reach the ground from a
cloud base of 1000 m above the earth surface.
Average rain drops may have diameter ranging from 1000 to 2000µ, but these drops can attain
maximum diameter of about 7000µ. Above this value, they become unstable and break into
smaller droplets while falling. This type of precipitation occurs in warm clouds of the equatorial
and tropical areas.
Besides collision, electrification between the droplets plays an important role to bring about
coalescence. If the colliding droplets have opposite electrical charges, coalescence is easily
achieved.
We know that all the clouds may not cause any precipitation. The clouds which do not cause
precipitation may have small droplets of uniform size. Such type of situation may lead to
colloidal stability in the clouds.
The growth of the clouds will not increase due to small size of the droplets, collision among the
droplets may not take place. Therefore, these cloud droplets may descend slowly at a uniform
speed without any collision. Thus, all those clouds which do not have required size of cloud
droplets may not yield any precipitation.
In both the processes, precipitation will occur for a longer period, if there is sufficient supply of
moisture.
Types of Precipitation:
There are three types of precipitation:
1. Orographic Precipitation,
2. Convectional Precipitation (Convective type), and
3. Cyclonic or Frontal Precipitation.
1. Orographic Precipitation:
This type of precipitation occurs when the moist air mass rises on the windward side of the
mountain. The moist air mass is lighter than the dry air mass, therefore, buoyancy forces push
the air mass along the slope of the mountain and cools at the dry adiabatic rate. When cooling is
sufficient, air mass becomes saturated and condensation starts. As a result, lifting condensation
level is reached and clouds begin to form.
When the mountains act as barrier to the flow of air mass, the air cools adiabatically, as a result
clouds and precipitation occur. This is called orographic precipitation. This type of precipitation
occurs on the windward side of the mountains.
But on the leeward side, there is abrupt decrease in precipitation due to the descending air mass
which gets heated at dry adiabatic lapse rate. The descending air mass becomes dry and hot.
As a result, the clouds on the leeward side disappear. Therefore, dry areas always exist on the
leeward side of the mountains. These are known as rain shadow areas. This is due to the reason
that moist air prevails on the windward side and warm dry air prevails on the leeward side.
In India, south-west monsoon causes heavy rain on the windward slope of western ghats,
whereas on the leeward side there are extensive rain shadow areas. There is a continuous
increase in precipitation on the windward side up to a certain height beyond which the rainfall
starts decreasing. This is called the inversion of rainfall.
2. Convectional Precipitation:
Two conditions are required to cause this type of precipitation:
i. Intense heating of the ground surface.
ii. Abundant supply of moisture.
Solar radiation is the main source of heat to produce convection currents in the air. This process
starts, when surface is heated unequally. During day, the air above the bare soil will grow
warmer than the air over the adjacent forest.
Warm air is less dense as compared to cold air. Convection currents are set up forcing air to rise.
The air is cooled adiabatically and its temperature will decrease as it rises. The air mass will
continue to rise as long as it remains warmer than its surrounding air.
Rising air mass becomes saturated as it gets cooled adiabatically. Condensation starts and the
rising air column becomes a puffy cumulus cloud. If the convection continues strongly, the cloud
develops into a dense cumulonimbus cloud.
Heavy rainfall is always associated with this type of cloud. Convective type precipitation is a
warm weather phenomena. It is generally associated with thunder, lightening and strong surface
winds. Sometimes hails are also associated with it.
Importance in Crop Plants:
This type of precipitation occurs in the low latitudes and in the temperate zones. It generally
occurs in the summer months during evening time. On the mountains, this type of precipitation is
of a very short duration and consists of heavy showers. Convective precipitation is less effective
for the crop growth than the steady rain.
In this case run off is maximum, therefore, little water is left for entering the soil. However, in
the temperate region, it is most effective in promoting the growth of plants. The main reason is
that in the mid latitudes it occurs only in warm season when the vegetation is very active.
3. Cyclonic or Frontal Precipitation:
It occurs when deep and extensive air masses are made to converge and move upward so that
their adiabatic cooling takes place. For this type of precipitation lifting of air mass is required.
Cyclonic precipitation can be achieved in two ways:
i. When two air masses with different temperature and moisture content meet at a certain angle,
the warm and moist air is forced to rise over the heavier cold air mass.
ii. When air masses from different directions converge to the centre, some of the air is forced up.
In tropical region, there is little difference in the temperature and humidity of the converging air
masses. The lifting is almost vertical and is accompanied by convection. In such a condition the
convergence provides the initial upward movement of unstable air mass and causes large clouds
and heavy showers.
In temperate regions, a zone of contact between warm and cold air mass is called front. There
may be warm or cold front. Frontal precipitation occurs when the warm and moist air gradually
rises over the cold air mass. The main cause of this precipitation is the mixing of air along the
front. Frontal precipitation along the warm front is in the form of drizzle. It is always widespread
and of long duration.
In case of cold front it is always in the form of intense thunder showers and is of very short
duration. Frontal precipitation occurs in Europe and N. America. During winter season, cyclonic
precipitation occurs in the northern parts of India.
Importance in Crop Plants:
The precipitation associated with warm front has low intensity but remains for a long duration.
As a result, the rainfall percolates in the soil and continues for hours together. Such type of
precipitation is most useful for crop growth. On the other hand, precipitation associated with cold
front is of high intensity falling on a small area and remains for a short period.
As a result, most of the rainfall does not get the chance to percolate in the soil as it is wasted
rapidly as run off. Therefore, less amount of precipitation may be available to the crop plants.
Thus, the precipitation associated with warm front is more useful for the growth of crop plants as
compared to that with cold front.
Clouds, its Types and Their Classification
What is Cloud?
It is mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals or both of size 20-60 micron suspended in the
atmosphere
How Clouds Form
Heating of Air near surface of the Earth
Warmer air rises through the atmosphere like balloon is termed as air parcel when TP
(Temperature of air parcel)> Ambient temperature (TA)
The pressure upon it decreases as parcel rises • Expansion of air parcel with increase in
height and parcel start cooling
Rising and Expansion continue until TP= TA
Eventually, temperature within a rising parcel may reach to its dew point
Condensation begin
Vapour condenses into droplets on microscopic dust particles in the atmosphere
The presence of particle initiate condensation
The particles called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN)
CCN are made of common salt of ocean.
Basis of Cloud Classification
First by Luke Howard – 1803
World meteorological organization – 1956
It is classified on the basis of - Height of cloud - Colour - Shape and form
Clouds form when rising air, through expansion, cools to the point where some of the water
vapor molecules "clump together" faster than they are torn apart by their thermal energy. Some
of that (invisible) water vapor condenses to form (visible)cloud droplets or ice crystals
Cloud Types (common cloud classifications)
Clouds are classified into a system that uses Latin words to describe the appearance of clouds as
seen by an observer on the ground. The table below summarizes the four principal components
of this classification system.
Latin Root Translation Example
cumulus heap fair weather cumulus
stratus layer altostratus
cirrus curl of hair cirrus
nimbus rain cumulonimbus
Further classification identifies clouds by height of cloud base. For example, cloud names
containing the prefix "cirr-", as in cirrus clouds, are located at high levels while cloud names
with the prefix "alto-", as in altostratus, are found at middle levels. This module introduces
several cloud groups. The first three groups are identified based upon their height above the
ground. The fourth group consists of vertically developed clouds, while the final group consists
of a collection of miscellaneous cloud types.
High-Level Clouds
High-level clouds form above 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) and since the temperatures are so cold
at such high elevations, these clouds are primarily composed of ice crystals. High-level clouds
are typically thin and white in appearance, but can appear in a magnificent array of colors when
the sun is low on the horizon.
Mid-Level Clouds
The bases of mid-level clouds typically appear between 6,500 to 20,000 feet (2,000 to 6,000
meters). Because of their lower altitudes, they are composed primarily of water droplets,
however, they can also be composed of ice crystals when temperatures are cold enough
Low-level Clouds
Low clouds are of mostly composed of water droplets since their bases generally lie below 6,500
feet (2,000 meters). However, when temperatures are cold enough, these clouds may also contain
ice particles and snow.
Vertically Developed Clouds
Probably the most familiar of the classified clouds is the cumulus cloud. Generated most
commonly through either thermal convection or frontal lifting, these clouds can grow to heights
in excess of 39,000 feet (12,000 meters), releasing incredible amounts of energy through
the condensation of water vapor within the cloud itself.
As warm, moist air rises it expands and cools. As the moist air rises and cools to the dew point, it
becomes saturated and condensation occurs. Cloud formation can only occur if the H20 vapor has
something to "stick to." Dust particles in the atmosphere act as a condensation nuclei for the H20
vapor.
Clouds are made of tiny drops of water or ice crystals that settle on dust particles in the
atmosphere. The droplets are so small - a diameter of about a hundredth of a millimeter - that
each cubic metre of air will contain 100 million droplets.
Clouds that produce rain and snow fall into this category. ("Nimbus" comes from the Latin word
for "rain.") Two examples are the nimbostratus or cumulonimbus clouds. Nimbostratus clouds
bring continuous precipitation that can last for many hours.
Formation. Nimbostratus occurs along a warm front or occluded front where the slowly rising
warm air mass creates nimbostratus along with shallower stratusclouds producing less rain,
these clouds being preceded by higher-level cloudssuch as cirrostratus and altostratus.
What are the two conditions needed for clouds to form
The air high above the air is colder than air at the surface. The vapor rises until it reaches a low
enough temperature and pressure to condense water vapor into water droplets and form a cloud.
When vapor condenses into liquid or solid particles, it loses some of its energy to the air.
Isoneph:Lime joining places of equal clouds cover on a map is known as isoneph.
Principles of cloud classification:
The great variety of cloud forms necessitates a classification of weather reporting. The
internationally adopted system is based upon (a) The general shape; structure and vertical extend
of the clouds and (b) their altitude.
Types of clouds: There are four basic types of clouds:
1. Clrrus (CI):Meaning “cur” and is recognized by its veil, like fibrous or featery form. It is the
highest type of cloud, ranging from approximately 7-12 km in altitude. (20,000 to 35,000 feet).
2. Cumulus (Cu):Meaning “heap”, is the wooly, bundly cloud with rounded top and flat base.
It is the most common in the summer season and in latitudes where high temperature prevail and
it always results from convection Its height is variable and depends on relative humidity of the
air.
3. Stratus (St): It is a sheet type cloud without any form to distinguish it. It is usually lower
than cumulus.
4. Nimbus (Nb):It is any dark and ragged cloud and from which precipitation occurs.
Classification of Clouds
Clouds have been classified according to their height and appearance by world Meteorological
Organization (WMO) into 10 categories.
Cloud family Name of cloud Composition Possible Description and appearance
and Height and weather change
abbreviation
1 2 3 4 5
Family A High 1 Cirrus (Ci) Ice crystals May Indicate It is wispy and feathery, sun shines
clouds 7 to 12 km storm showery without shadow. It does not produce
weather precipitations
2. Cirrocumulus Ice crystals Possible storm Meekerel sky, often fore renners of
(CC) cyclone, look like sippled sand
3. Ice crystals Possible storm Meekeral sky, often fore runners of
Cirrostratus(Cs) cyclone, look like sippled sand.
Family B middle 4. Altocumulus Ice & water Steady rain or Looks like wool peak, sheep bulk
clods 3 3-7 km (As) snow clouds.
5. Atmostratus Water and ice Impending rain Fibrous veil or sheet, grey or bluish,
(As) or snow produce coronos, usually ct.st
shadow.
Family C low 6. Stratocumulus Water Rain possible Long parallel rolls, pushed together
clouds from (Se) or broken masses which look soft and
ground to km grey but with darker parts, air is
smooth above but strong updrafts
occur below.
7. straus (St) Water May produce A low uniform layer, resembling fog,
drizzle but resting not on the ground, chief
winter cloud.
8.Nimbostrauts Water or Ice Impending rain Fibrous veil or sheet, grey, grey or
or snow bluish produce coronas, usually
Family D clouds 9.Cumu-lus (Cu) Water Fair weather Looks like wool pack, dark below
with vertical due to shadow, may develop into
development cumulous –Nimbus flat base.
from 0.5 to 16 km
10, Cumulous – Ice in upper Violet winds Thunder head, towering anvil top,
Nimbus (Cb) level and rain, all possible violet up and down drafts, aviators
water in lower thunderstorm avoid them, develop from cumulus,
level. hail lighting chief precipitation makers.
possible
10 cumulo- Ice in upper Violet winds Thunder head, towering anvil top,
Nimbus(Cb) level and rain, all possible violet up and down drafts, aviators
water in lower thunderstorm avoid them, develop from cumulus
level hail lighting chief precipitation makers.
possible
Artificial Rain (Cloud Seeding)-
Cloud seeding is an attempt to stimulate natural precipitation processes by injecting seedable
materials (iodine compounds, solid carbon dioxide, dry ice, iodine etc.) into clouds, typically
from aircraft. It is observed that even in dry regions, there is no girth of clouds. The problem is
that they do not produce rain. There are two reason why clouds do not produce rain.
1. The droplets do not grow large enough to initiate coalescence.
2. The temperature is not low enough (below -100C) to produce ice crystals naturally.
These reasons must be overcome to produce rain. This can be done by artificially introducing
some nuclei, which will induce ice crystal formation. These nuclei can be silver iodide or dry ice
(AgI). AgI is a substance has crystal properties similar to those of ice. By dropping AgI into the
cloud the Bergeron process is stimulated. When AgI is dropped into a cloud, ice crystals form
around them or they collide with and freeze some of the cloud droplets. These ice particles grow
large enough to initiate coalescence even when the temperature is as high as -40C. Sometimes
cold clouds are dioxide and has a temperature of about -800C. Thus when dry ice falls through a
cloud they cools the nearby air parcel below -100C, it then encourages the natural freezing nuclei
and activates the Bergeron process. In warm clouds, sea salt crystals and other hygroscopic
substances are injected to encourage the growth of few large drops, which then can fall to the
ground. The statistical significance of the result is hard to assess and there is lack of undisputed
evidence (careful) studies have shown that when clouds are seeded properly precipitation
increases by 10-20% but the question remains would the rain or snow that follows would have
fallen anyway.
Cloud seeding is not always successful. If too many ice crystals are produced as a result of
seeding, none will be able to grow large enough to start coalescence. There is therefore always a
possibility that if cloud seeding is overdone it can actually prevent a cloud from producing
precipitation.
There are also some problems in cloud seeding-
1. It does not work in very dry areas where it is most needed because there are rarely any clouds
available.
2. There could be serious ecological side effects, including-
a. The unknown effects of AgI on human being and wildlife.
b. Changes in original snowfall and rainfall.
c. Additional flooding that could alter or destroy vegetation and wildlife.
3. Cloud seeding, meant for a particular dry area, may bring rainfall to other already wet area.
Cloud seeding can also occur naturally. When ice crystals from cirrus clouds fall into the stratus
clouds below, thus increasing precipitation.