Types of precipitation and ways of their formation

Rain, snow or hail - with all these concepts we have known since childhood. We have a special relationship to each of them. So, the rain brings sadness and dull thoughts, snow, on the contrary, cheers and raises the mood. But hail, for example, very few people like, as it is capable of causing huge damage to agriculture and serious injuries to those who are at this time on the street.

We have long learned how to determine by the outward signs the approach of certain precipitations. So, if the morning in the street is very gray and cloudy, there may be precipitation in the form of a prolonged rain. Usually this rain is not very strong, but it can last a whole day. If thick and heavy clouds appear on the horizon, precipitation may occur in the form of snow. Light clouds in the form of feathers portend a heavy rain shower.

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, to form ordinary rain, it is necessary to interact three components: the sun, the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere.

Atmospheric precipitation is ...

Atmospheric precipitation is water in a liquid or solid state, dropping out of the atmosphere. Rainfall can either fall directly to the surface of the Earth or settle on it or on any other objects.

The amount of precipitation in a particular area can be measured. Measure their thickness of a layer of water in millimeters. In this case, solid precipitates 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 amount of precipitated precipitation is about 3 mm.

Education process

How do they form, different types of precipitation? The scheme of their formation is one, and it is based on a continuous cycle of water in nature. Let us consider this process in more detail.

It all starts with the fact that the sun begins to warm up the earth's surface. Under the influence of heating, the water masses that are contained in the oceans, seas, rivers, are converted to water vapor, mixing with air. The processes of vaporization occur throughout the day, constantly, to a greater or lesser extent. Volumes of steam formation depend on the latitude of the terrain, and also on the intensity of solar radiation.

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

Drops in the clouds grow and grow larger, taking on more and more moisture. As a result, they become so heavy that they can no longer hold in the atmosphere, and fall down. Thus, atmospheric precipitation is born, the species of which depend on specific weather conditions in a certain area.

The water that has fallen to the surface of the earth flows over time in streams into rivers and seas. Then the natural cycle in the geographical envelope is repeated again and again.

Atmospheric precipitation: types of precipitation

As already mentioned, there are a huge number of types of precipitation. Meteorologists allocate a few dozen.

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

• Drizzling;
• Complex;
• Storm showers.

Rainfall can also be liquid (rain, drizzle, fog) or hard (snow, hail, frost).

Rain

It is a kind of liquid precipitation in the form of water droplets falling to the ground under the influence of gravity. The droplet sizes can be different: from 0.5 to 5 millimeters in diameter. Drops of rain, falling on the water surface, leave on the water divergent circles of an ideally round shape.

Depending on the intensity, rain can be drizzling, hard or stormy. Also, this type of precipitation is distinguished, such as rain and snow.

Ice rain is a special kind of atmospheric precipitation, which occur in sub-zero air temperatures. Do not confuse them with hail. Ice rain is a drop in the form of small frozen balls, inside of which is water. Falling to the ground, such balls are broken, and the water from them flows, leading to the formation of a dangerous ice.

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

Snow

These solid precipitates fall out at minus air temperature and have the appearance of snow crystals, commonly referred to as snowflakes.

During the snow, visibility is significantly reduced, with a heavy snowfall it can be less than 1 kilometer. During heavy frosts, weak snow can be observed even with a cloudless sky. Separately, such a variety of snow is distinguished, as wet snow - it is precipitation, dropping out at small plus 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 °.

How does hail happen? It is formed from drops of water, which then drop, then rises sharply in the vortices of cold air. Thus, large ice balls are formed. Their size depends on how long these processes took place in the atmosphere. There have been cases when hailstones dropped to the ground weighing up to 1-2 kilograms!

Gradina in its internal structure is very similar to an onion: it consists of several layers of ice. You can even count them, just as the rings on the spruce trees are counted, and determine how many times the drops carried out rapid vertical travels in the atmosphere.

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

Now you know how atmospheric precipitation forms. Types of precipitation can be very different, which makes our nature beautiful and unique. All the processes that take place in it are simple, and at the same time brilliant.