Water Cycle and Precipitation Be sure to click more then once in any slide.

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Evaporation The process by which liquid water enters the atmosphere as water vapor

Condensation The process that changes water vapor back to liquid water or ice crystals. This process in involved in cloud formation. As the water vapor rises the air becomes colder and it collects around dust particles to form clouds.

Click on each type of precipitation. occurs when so much water has condensed into the clouds that they can not hold any more. Click on each type of precipitation. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow. http://pmm.nasa.gov/video-gallery/what-is-global-precipitation-measurement

Types of Precipitation - Rain Most common Mist and drizzle are forms of rain 1cm of rain =10 cm of snow

Type of Precipitation - Snow Water vapor in a cloud turns directly into ice crystals called snow flakes Snow flakes have different shapes and patterns but all have 6 sides

Type of Precipitation -Hail Round pellets of ice larger than 5mm Forms only in cumulonimbus clouds Formed by up drafts http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1805/es1805page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

Type of Precipitation - Freezing Rain Rain that freezes when it touches a very cold surface, like cars, trees, roads, etc.

Type of Precipitation - Sleet As rain drops fall through cold air below 0oc, they freeze before they hit the ground

Drought Long period of unusually low precipitation

Rain Gauge Meteorologists measure rainfall with a rain gauge. A rain gauge is an open-ended can or tube that collects rainfall. 10 cm of snow equals about 1 cm of rain. Meteorologists are scientist who study weather.