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of pages- 6 pages)
Water Cycle and the forms of precipitation
Outline
Intro (brief discussion about water cycle and precipitation and its kinds
Discuss water cycle, explain further each process (evaporation, condensation, precipitation)
types if may ara, kinds of precipitation.

Water is a very essential and important element on Earth. Water always changes, of which it
may be in the form of solid (ice), liqiud (water) or gas (vapor). Its repeating changes make a cycle and
is called the water cycle. Water cycle is also called hydrologic cycle of which it involves the continuous
circulation of water in the Earth-atmosphere system. The cycle is involved with major processes such
as evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Although the total amount of water within the cycle
remains essentially constant, its distribution among the various processes is continually changing
(Britannica Encyclopedia, 2016). According to National Aeronotic and Space Administration (n.d.), the
water cycle is generally describe in a process by which water evaporates from the surface of the earth,
rises into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow in clouds, and falls again to the surface
as precipitation .

water cycle. (2016). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved

fromhttps://www.britannica.com/science/water-cycle

(National Aeronotic and Space Administration) NASA. n.d. The Water Cycle. Precipitation Education.
Retrieved from https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/water-cycle

Water from liquid state changes into gaseous state in the form of vapor undergoes the process of
evaporation. The main factors affecting evaporation are temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar
radiation. Evaporation occurs when some molecules in a water mass have attained sufficient kinetic
energy to eject themselves from the water surface. The principal source of water vapour is the oceans
and other bodies of water but evaporation also occurs in soils, snow and ice. Evaporation from snow
and ice, the direct conversion from solid to vapour, is known as sublimation. Transpiration is the
evaporation of water through minute pores, or stomata, in the leaves of plants. For practical purposes,
transpiration and the evaporation from all water, soils, snow, ice, vegetation, and other surfaces are
lumped together and called evapotranspiration or total evaporation (Britannica Encyclopedia, 2016).

There are many different types of precipitation rain, snow, hail, and sleet for exampleyet they all
have a few things in common. They all come from clouds. They are all forms of water that fall from the
sky. Additionally, they all affect life on Earth, causing some people to leap with glee while making
others scowl, mumbling about umbrellas or snow shovels, causing garden flowers to grow or causing
massive crop damage.
The most common types of precipitation:
Rain
Drops of liquid water fall from the clouds when water vapor condenses around dust particles in the
clouds, forming tiny droplets that eventually get too big for the cloud to hold so they fall, growing
larger as they collect more water on their way down.
Snow
Snow is ice that falls from the sky. Each snowflake is a delicately complex arrangement of ice crystals.
A snowflake forms when water vapor sublimates, or turns directly from a gas into its solid form, ice.
Hail
Hail is ice that falls from the sky, often in round shapes. Hailstones form within thunderstorm clouds
when upward moving air keeps pellets of frozen water from falling. The pellets grow larger as drops of
very cold water hit them and freeze. Eventually the balls of ice become so large and heavy that they fall
to the ground as hailstones. The largest documented hailstone weighted more than one and a half
pounds! Scientists estimate that it reached a speed of more than 80 mph as it fell toward Earth.
Sleet
Sleet is like slush falling from the sky. Sleet forms when raindrops freeze into ice as they fall to the
ground. They are usually smaller and wetter than hailstones.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research & The UCAR Office of Programs. Precipitation (Water
Falling from the Sky). Weather and Climate Basics, University Corporation for Atmspheric Research.
Retrieved from http://www.eo.ucar.edu/basics/wx_2_b.html

Precipitation is the falling of water from the sky in different forms. They all form from the clouds
which are raised about 8 to 16 kilometers (4 to 11 miles) above the ground in the earths troposphere.
Precipitation takes place whenever any or all forms of water particles fall from these high levels of the
atmosphere and reach the earth surface. The drop to the ground is caused by frictional drag and gravity.
When one falling particle drops from the cloud, it leaves behind a turbulent wake, causing faster and
continued drops.
The (clouds) crystallized ice may reach the ground as ice pellets or snow or may melt and change into
raindrops before reaching the surface of the earth depending on the atmospheric temperatures. For this
reason, there are many different types of precipitation namely rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, hail, snow
grains and diamond dust. They are forms of water that fall from the skys frozen clouds.

Different Types of Precipitation

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 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 suspend on the air. As a result,
the gravity pulls then down to the earth.

When high in the air, the raindrops start falling as ice crystals or snow but melt when as they proceed
down the earth through the warmer air. Rainfall rates vary from time to time, for example, light rain
ranges from rates of 0.01 to 0.1 inches peer hour, moderate rain from 0.1 to .3 inches per hour, and
heavy rain above 0.3 inches per hour. Rain is the most common component of the water cycle and
replenishes most of the fresh water on the earth.
 1. Snow

Snow occurs almost every time there is rain. However, snow often melts before it reaches the earth
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 occur 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.

This evaporation leads to cooling just around the snowflake and makes it to reach to the ground as
snow. Snow has fluffy, white and soft structure and its formation is in different shapes and ways,
namely flat plates and thin needles. Each type of snow forms under specific combinations of
atmospheric humidity and temperatures. The process of snow precipitation is called snowfall.

1. Sleet (Ice Pellets)

Sleet takes place in freezing atmospheric conditions. Sleet, also known as ice pellets, form when snow
falls into a warm layer then melts into rain and then the rain droplets falls 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.

Sleet is often experienced during thunderstorms and is normally accompanied with frosty ice crystals
that form white deposits and a mixture of semisolid rain and slushy snow. Ice pellets (sleet) bounce
when they hit the ground or any other solid objects and falls with a hard striking sound. Sleet don not
freeze into a solid mass except when it combines with freezing rain.

1. 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, aircrafts, and power lines.

1. Hail

Hailstones are big balls and irregular lumps of ice that fall from large thunderstorms. Hail is purely a
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 peas diameter to that larger than a grapefruit.
For this reason, they are highly damaging to crops, tearing leaves apart and reducing their value.
Violent thunderstorms with very strong updrafts usually have the capability to hold ice against the
gravitational pull, which brings about the hailstones when they eventually escape and fall to the
ground. So, hailstones are formed from super-cooled droplets that slowly freeze and results in sheet of
clear ice.

Drizzle
Drizzle is very light rain. It is stronger than mist but less than a shower. Mist is a thin fog with
condensation near the ground. Fog is made up of ice crystals or cloud water droplets suspended in the
air near or at the earths surface. Drizzle droplets are smaller than 0.5 millimeters (0.02 inches) in
diameter. They arise from low stratocumulus clouds. They sometimes evaporate even before reaching
the ground due to their minute size. Drizzle can be persistent is cold atmospheric temperatures.

1. Sun Shower

Sun shower is a precipitation event that is registered when rain falls while the sun shines. It occurs
when the winds bearing rain together with rain storms are blown several miles away, thus giving rise to
raindrops into an area without clouds. Consequently, sun shower is formed when single rain cloud
passes above the earths surface and the suns rays penetrate through the raindrops. Most of the time, it
is accompanied with the appearance of a rainbow.

8. Snow Grains

Snow grains are as very small white and opaque grains of ice. Snow grains are fairly flat and have
diameter generally less than 1mm. They are almost equivalent to the size of drizzle. Read more about
snow grains here.

9. Diamond Dust

Diamond dust are extremely small ice crystals usually formed at low levels and at temperatures below
-30 C. Diamond dust got its name from the sparkling effect which is created when light reflects on the
ice crystals in the air. You can read more about diamond dust here.

Madaan, S. 2016. What is Precipitation?. Earth Eclipse. Retrieved from

http://www.eartheclipse.com/geography/different-types-of-precipitation.html

HTML downloaded- Precipitation Types. 2013. Climate Education for K-12. Retrieved from
http://climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/.preciptypes

Precipitation Forms. http://meteorologytraining.tpub.com/14269/css/14269_45.htm

PDF- http://fcweb.limestone.on.ca/~stridef/G9%20Ac%20Geography/Unit%204%20Lesson
%206%20Precipitation.pdf

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fromhttps://www.britannica.com/science/water-cycle

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fromhttps://www.britannica.com/science/precipitation