Precipitation is a key process in the water cycle, and it begins high up in the clouds.
It forms
when water vapor in the atmosphere cools and condenses into tiny droplets. These droplets
gradually combine to form larger and heavier drops of water. Once the droplets reach a size and
weight that gravity can pull down, they fall to the Earth’s surface as precipitation. The type of
precipitation that reaches the ground depends on the temperature in the clouds and the air
layers beneath them. At higher altitudes where the air is colder, water droplets may freeze into
ice crystals instead of staying liquid. These crystals can fall as snow, hail, or sleet, or melt into
rain if they pass through warmer air on the way down.
Interestingly, most rain does not start out as liquid water. In fact, many raindrops begin as
snowflakes in the upper parts of clouds. As these flakes descend, they melt into liquid droplets
once they pass through warmer air closer to the Earth’s surface. This is why a single cloud
system can sometimes produce both rain and snow depending on the air temperature at
different heights.
A crucial part of precipitation is the presence of tiny particles in the air, such as dust, ash, or
smoke. These act as condensation nuclei, tiny surfaces that give water vapor something to cling
to. Without them, water molecules would have a hard time sticking together to form droplets.
Once condensation starts, droplets gather and grow until they are heavy enough to fall
(“Precipitation”, n.d.).
There are four main types of precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
● Rain occurs when water droplets fall to the ground in liquid form. Although raindrops are
often drawn as teardrops in pictures, they are actually closer to spherical in shape due to
surface tension.
● Sleet (ice pellets) consists of small, round, and usually transparent ice pellets with
diameters of 5 mm (0.2 inch) or less. It forms when raindrops or partially melted
snowflakes freeze before reaching the ground (“Sleet”, n.d.).
● Hail forms in powerful thunderstorm clouds, where strong updrafts push water droplets
high into extremely cold regions of the cloud. The droplets freeze into small balls of ice,
and each time they are lifted and dropped again inside the storm cloud, more layers of
ice build up around them. Eventually, they become too heavy for the storm winds to hold
and fall as solid hailstones. While some hailstones are the size of peas, others can grow
as large as baseballs or even bigger, causing serious damage when they hit the ground.
● Snow forms when water vapor freezes directly into ice crystals within the cloud. These
crystals often link together to form snowflakes, each with a unique and intricate
structure. The shape of a snowflake depends on the surrounding air’s temperature and
humidity. Snow tends to fall gently compared to hail and creates a soft covering on the
ground. When conditions cause snowflakes to partially melt and then refreeze, they can
form rounded, pellet-like ice called graupel. (“Types of Precipitation”, n.d.)
Refrences:
1. Precipitation (National Geographic Education)
National Geographic Society. (2023, January 5). Precipitation. In National Geographic
Education. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/precipitation/
2. Types of Precipitation (National Geographic Education)
National Geographic Society. (2024, March 12). Types of precipitation. In National Geographic
Education. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/types-precipitation/
3. Sleet (Encyclopædia Britannica)
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2025, July 15). Sleet. In Encyclopædia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/science/sleet
