Topic: Precipitation PSSA: 3.5.7.C / S8.D.2.1

Objective: TLW compare the four types of precipitation.

MI #1: What is Precipitation? Precipitation is water, in solid or liquid form, that falls from the atmosphere to the Earth. The four main forms of precipitation are rain, snow, sleet, and hail.

MI #2: Rain Rain is the most common type of precipitation. Rain forms from cloud droplets that become too heavy and fall to the Earth as liquid water. Sometimes rain forms from heavy ice crystals that melt as they fall.

MI #3: Freezing Rain Freezing rain is a special type of rain that falls as a liquid, but freezes when it hits the ground or other surfaces in cold weather. Freezing rain covers surfaces with a coating of ice.

MI #4: Sleet Sometimes rain passes through a layer of cold air and freezes before it hits the ground. These frozen pellets of ice are called sleet.

MI #5: Snow Ice crystals that grow and merge in a cloud become snowflakes. Snowflakes may clump together when they fall through moist air that is near freezing. Snow that falls through colder, dryer air becomes powdery.

MI #6: Hail Balls of ice that fall from cumulonimbus (thunder) clouds are called hail. Severe updraft of the air suspends these balls of ice in the atmosphere to grow until they become too heavy and they fall to Earth.

So What…? Real Life Application Understanding precipitation is important to understanding weather patterns and the effects that weather may have on a region.