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PRECIPITATION

INTRODUCTION

There are many different types of precipitation - rain, snow, hail and sleet for example - yet they all have
a few things in common. They all come from clouds. They are all forms of water that fall from the sky.

Precipitation is one of the three main processes (evaporation, condensation, and precipitation) that
constitute the hydrologic cycle, the continual exchange of water between the atmosphere and Earth’s
surface. Water evaporates from ocean, land, and freshwater surfaces, is carried aloft as vapour

FORMS OF PRECIPITATION

Requirements for precipitation to form:

1.The atmosphere must have moisture

2.There must be sufficient nuclei present to aid condensation

3.Weather conditions must be good for condensation of water vapour to take place; and

4.The products of condensation must reach the earth.

FORMS:

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.

But the precipitation only stays as snow when the atmosphere is cold all the way from clouds to the
ground.

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 recorded hailstone in the U.S. was nearly as big as a volleyball and fell on July 23, 2010, in
Vivian, South Dakota. It was 8 inches in diameter and weighed almost 2 pounds!

Causes about $1 billion damage to crops and property annually.


Sleet

Sleet is like a 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.

WEATHER SYSTEM FOR PRECIPITATION

For the formation of clouds and subsequent precipitation, it is necessary that the moist air masses cool
to form condensation. This is normally accomplished by adiabatic cooling of moist air through a process
of being lifted to higher altitudes. Some of the terms and processes connected with the weather systems
associated with precipitation are given:

FRONT is the interface between two distinct air masses. Under favorable condition, when warm air mass
and cold air mass meet, the warmer air mass is lifted over the colder one with the formation of front.
The ascending warmer air cools adiabatically with the consequent formation of clouds and precipitation.

CYCLONE is a large low pressure region with circular wind motion. Two types of cyclones are recognized:

TROPICAL CYCLONE is a wind system with an intensely strong depression with MSL pressure sometimes
below 915mbars. The normal area extent of a cyclone is about 100-200 km in diameter. The isobars are
closely spaced and the winds are anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.

EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONE is formed in location outside the tropical zone. Associated with a frontal
system, they possess a strong counter clockwise wind circulation in the northern hemisphere.

ANTICYCLONES are regions of high pressure, usually of large areal extent. The weather is usually calm at
the centre. These cause clockwise wind circulations in the northern hemisphere. Winds are moderate of
speed, and at the outer edges cloudy and precipitations exist.

CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION, in this type of precipitation, a packet of air which is warmer than the
surrounding air due to localized heating rises because of its lesser density. Air from cooler surroundings
flows to take up its place thus setting up a convective cell. The warm air continues to rise , undergoes
cooling and results in precipitation.

OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION, the moist air masses may get lifted-up to higher altitudes due to the
presence of mountain barriers and consequently undergo cooling, condensation and precipitation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PRECIPITATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Climate of the Philippines is either tropical rainforest, tropical savanna or tropical monsoon, or
humid subtropical (in higher-altitude areas) characterized by relatively high temperature, oppressive
humidity and plenty of rainfall.

There are two seasons in the country, the wet season and the dry season, based upon the amount of
rainfall. This is dependent as well on your location in the country as some areas experience rain all
throughout the year (see Climate Types).
The seven warmest months of the year are from March to October. The winter monsoon brings
cooler air from November to February. May is the warmest month, and January, the coolest.

There are four recognized climate types in the Philippines, and they are based on the distribution
of rainfall. They are described as follows:

Type I—has two pronounced seasons: dry from November to April and wet throughout the rest of the
year. The western parts of Luzon, Mindoro, Negros and Palawan experience this climate. These areas are
shielded by mountain ranges but are open to rains brought in by Habagat and tropical cyclones.

Type II—characterized by the absence of a dry season but with a very pronounced maximum rain period
from November to January. Regions with this climate are along or very near the eastern coast
(Catanduanes, Sorsogon, eastern part of Albay, eastern and northern parts of Camarines Norte and Sur,
eastern part of Samar and large portions of Eastern Mindanao).

Type III—seasons are not very pronounced but are relatively dry from November to April and wet during
the rest of the year. Areas under this type include the western part of Cagayan, Isabela, parts of
Northern Mindanao and most of Eastern Palawan. These areas are partly sheltered from trade winds but
are open to Habagat and are frequented by tropical cyclones.

Type IV—characterized by a more or less even distribution of rainfall throughout the year. Areas with
this climate include Batanes, Northeastern Luzon, Southwest Camarines Norte, west of Camarines Sur,
Albay, Northern Cebu, Bohol and most of Central, Eastern andSouthern Mindanao. ❋

There are three recognized seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March
to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Taglamig (the cold season from
December to February).

The humid southwest monsoon (May-October) is known as "Habagat". The cool and dry winds of
the northeast monsoon (November April) are called "Amihan".

These seasons can seriously get mixed up by the El Niño / La Niña effects. El Niño brings dry
weather and even droughts. La Niña stands for rainy weather and floods.

The Dry Season

The Philippines dry season starts in December and runs through to about June. This period does
not encounter any monsoons, you do however have the consistent trade winds blowing from north-east
which are generally dry.

Within the Philippines dry season you will encounter two temperatures. During the months of
December to February you can expect cool and dry weather. January is the coolest month of the year,
when we say coolest you can expect a temperature around 22 degrees Celsius, which is really quite nice.
Up in the Cordilleras they nearly freeze at 6 degrees Celsius.

From March to June you can expect hot and dry weather. May is the hottest month of the year,
you can expect temperatures in the high thirties degree Celsius and at night, if it gets below 27 degrees
Celsius, then you are lucky. Make sure you have air conditioning or at least a fan.
The Wet Season

With the high humidity and heat of the months May and June it is not surprising that something
has to give, it just cannot stay this sticky forever and you are right. The season will break, usually in July.
It is July through to November that the rains come and boy do they come. These rains are called
monsoons and are a constant wind bringing rain.

Each year during the southwestern monsoon the Philippines climate also attracts typhoons
which batter the Pacific eastern coastline of Luzon, Samar, Leyte but nearly never Mindanao. The
typhoons come in from the Western Pacific in a north-westerly direction, they also whip up the
Philippines surf.

In the last years we counted less typhoons per year but they were more violent and made
landfall in the north and in the south. In 2009 a series of four cyclones battered northern Luzon in one
month.

The climate of the Philippines is influenced by the complex interaction of various factors such as
the country’s geography and topography; principal air streams; ocean currents; linear systems such as
the intertropical convergence zone; and tropical cyclones which are classified as tropical depression,
tropical storm or typhoon, depending on their intensities (to be presented in a separate issue of the
Economic Issue of the Day).

Among these factors, it is perhaps useful to understand the movements of air streams.
Rainfall is generally a result of the movement and interaction of cold and warm air masses in a particular
period. The Southwest Monsoon or locally known as Habagat, for instance, affects the country from May
to September and occurs when warm moist air flows over the country from the southwest direction.

This brings in rains to the western portion of the country. The


Northeast Monsoon or Amihan, meanwhile, affects the eastern portions of the country from
October to late March. Cold and dry air mass from Siberia gathers moisture as it travels over the Pacific
and brings widespread cloudiness with rains and showers upon reaching the eastern parts of the
Philippines. In addition, a cold front affects the country from November to February and brings increased
cloudiness and heavy rains. This occurs when a mass of moving cold air overtakes a mass of moving
warm air resulting in towering cloud formations that bring heavy rains and thunderstorms.
On the whole, the climate of the Philippines (using temperature and rainfall as the gauge) can be divided
into two major seasons: the rainy season, which sets in by June and ends around November, and the dry
season, which sets in by December and ends in May. The dry season is also subdivided into the cool dry
season from December to February and the hot dry season from March to May.

MEASUREMENT OF PRECIPITATION

Precipitation is expressed in terms of depth to which rainfall water would stand to an area if all the rain
were collected on it.

Precipitation is measured by using a rain gauge. A rain gauge is a small tube of glass or plastic with the
upper end open. A measuring scale is usually attached to the tube, so that the amount of precipitation
can be measured in inches or centimeters.
Considerations for siting a rain gauge:

• The ground must be level and the instrument must present a horizontal catch surface.

• The gauge must be set as near the ground as possible to reduce wind effects but it must be
sufficiently high to prevent splashing/flooding.

• The instrument must be surrounded by an open fenced area of at least 5.5m x 5.5m. No object
must be nearer to the instrument than 30m or twice the height of the obstruction.

Recording gauges produce a continuous plot of rainfall against time and provide valuable data of
intensity and duration of rainfall for hydrological analysis of storms.

Commonly used recording rain gauges:

• Tipping bucket type

• Weighing Bucket type

• Natural syphon type

Radar Measurement of Rainfall

The meteorological radar is a powerful instrument for measuring the areal extent, location and
movement of rain storms. Further, The amount of rainfall over large areas can be determined through
the radar wit a good degree of accuracy.

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