Types of precipitation and methods of their formation

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Rain, snow or hail - we have known all these concepts since childhood. We have a special relationship with each of them. So, rain evokes sadness and dull thoughts, snow, on the contrary, amuses and cheers up. But hail, for example, few people love, as it can cause huge damage to agriculture and serious injuries to those who find themselves on the street at this time.

We have long learned how to determine the approach of certain precipitation by external signs. So, if in the morning it is very gray and cloudy outside, precipitation in the form of prolonged rain is possible. Usually such rain is not very heavy, but can last all day. If thick and heavy clouds appeared on the horizon, precipitation in the form of snow is possible. Light clouds in the form of feathers portend heavy rain showers.

It should be noted that all types of precipitation are the result of very complex and very long processes in the earth's atmosphere. So, in order to form ordinary rain, the interaction of three components is necessary: the sun, the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere.

Precipitation is…

Precipitation is water in liquidor in a solid state, falling out of the atmosphere. Precipitation can either fall on the surface of the Earth directly or settle on it or on any other objects.

The amount of precipitation in a particular area can be measured. They are measured by the thickness of the water layer in millimeters. In this case, solid types of precipitation are pre-melted. The average amount of precipitation per year on the planet is 1000 mm. In tropical deserts, no more than 200-300 mm falls, and the driest place on the planet is the Atacama Desert, where the recorded annual rainfall is about 3 mm.

Educational process

How are they formed, different types of precipitation? The scheme of their formation is one, and it is based on the continuous cycle of water in nature. Let's take a closer look at this process.

It all starts with the fact that the Sun begins to warm the earth's surface. Under the influence of heating, the water masses that are contained in the oceans, seas, rivers, are converted into water vapor, mixing with air. Vaporization processes occur throughout the day, constantly, to a greater or lesser extent. The volume of vaporization depends on the latitude of the area, as well as on the intensity of solar radiation.

Further, moist air heats up and begins, according to the immutable laws of physics, to rise up. Having risen to a certain height, it cools, and the moisture in it gradually turns into drops of water or ice crystals. This process is called condensation, and it is from such water particles that the clouds that we use are made up.admiring the sky.

Drops in the clouds grow and become larger, taking in more and more moisture. As a result, they become so heavy that they can no longer be held in the atmosphere, and fall down. This is how precipitation is born, the types of which depend on specific weather conditions in a particular area.

The water that falls on the surface of the Earth eventually flows in streams into rivers and seas. Then the natural cycle in the geographical envelope repeats again and again.

Precipitation: types of precipitation

As already mentioned here, there are a huge number of varieties of precipitation. Meteorologists highlight a few dozen.

All types of precipitation can be divided into three main groups:

• drizzling;
• covery;
• rainstorm.

Precipitation can also be liquid (rain, drizzle, fog) or solid (snow, hail, frost).

Rain

This is a type of liquid precipitation in the form of water droplets that fall to the ground under the influence of gravity. The size of the droplets can be different: from 0.5 to 5 millimeters in diameter. Raindrops, falling on the water surface, leave divergent circles on the water in a perfectly round shape.

Depending on the intensity, the rain can be drizzling, heavy or torrential. They also distinguish such a type of precipitation as rain with snow.

Freezing rain is a special type of precipitation that occurs at sub-zero air temperatures. They should not be confused with hail. Freezing rain is drops in the form of small frozen balls, inside of which there is water. Falling to the ground, such balls break, and water flows out of them, leading to the formation of dangerous ice.

If the intensity of the rain is too high (about 100 mm per hour), then it is called a downpour. Showers form on cold atmospheric fronts, within unstable air masses. As a rule, they are observed in very small areas.

Snow

This solid precipitation occurs at sub-zero air temperatures and looks like snow crystals, colloquially referred to as snowflakes.

During the snow, visibility is significantly reduced, with heavy snowfall it can be less than 1 kilometer. During severe frosts, light snow can be observed even with a cloudless sky. Separately, such a kind of snow as sleet stands out - this is precipitation that falls at low positive temperatures.

Grad

This type of solid atmospheric precipitation is formed at high altitudes (at least 5 kilometers), where the air temperature is always lower - 15^o.

How is hail produced? It is formed from drops of water that either fall or rise sharply in eddies of cold air. Thus, large ice balls are formed. Their size depends on how long these processes took place in the atmosphere. There were cases when hailstones weighing up to 1-2 kilograms fell on the ground!

The hailstoneits internal structure is very similar to an onion: it consists of several layers of ice. You can even count them, like the rings on cut trees, and determine how many times the droplets made rapid vertical travel in the atmosphere.

It is worth noting that hail is a real disaster for agriculture, because it can easily destroy all the plants on the plantation. In addition, it is almost impossible to determine the approach of hail in advance. It starts instantly and happens, as a rule, in the summer season of the year.

Now you know how precipitation is formed. The types of precipitation can be very different, which makes our nature beautiful and unique. All the processes taking place in it are simple, and at the same time brilliant.