Question
Explain the meaning of precipitation and its forms.
✓
Answer
- Generally the precipitation is recorded in inches, centimeters or millimeters.
- $(1$ inch $= 2.54\ cm =25$ millimeters.$)$
- Various instruments are used to record precipitation.
- There are four major types of precipitation received by the earth.
$1.$ Snowfall:
- When the air temperature falls below $0^\circ C$ the vapour condenses.
- The vapour is transformed into small snow particles or snow pallets.
- When these snow particles or snow pallets grow larger, they precipitate on the surface which is called snowfall.
- Snowfall is very common over Canada, Greenland and Polar Regions.
- Heavy snowfall also occurs over the high peaks in Himalayas, Andies, Rockys and Alps.
- Snowfall cools down the temperature of respective places and the cold is spread towards the remote areas.
- When there is heavy snowfall over Himalayan region, a severe cold wave spreads over entire
- North India, Rajasthan and up to Gujarat.
- Water drops coming down from the clouds are pushed back in the colder upper air due to convectional air currents.
- They condense and transform into snow particles.
- When these snow particles come down, more vapour condenses over them and the snow particles become larger.
- Sometimes, before the snow particles fall down, they are sent up and down many times by the convectional current.
- This enlarges their size and finally fall on the earth in the form of a small piece of ice.
- This is called Hail Stones.
- Sometimes, such hail stones damage agricultural crops and other living organisms.
- Sleet Pallets may be called half frozen rain.
- Water drops get frozen while passing through very cold winds in between before they fall on the surface.
- They fall in the form of snow pallets, which is called Sleet Rains.
- In sleet rains the snow particles falling down are very soft or half frozen, and also have water particles.
- Sleet rain takes place when cold air from polar region gushes towards middle latitudes.
- Whenever there is sleet rain in few areas of the world, road accidents increase.
- When the water vapour from the clouds fall on the ground in the form of small water particles it is called water rain.
- About $5$ to $10$ lakh minute water particles from the cloud mingle with one another, then a water drop is formed capable to fall down.
- These water drops are smaller than 5 millimeters or less.
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