Starter Arrange the following sentences in order to explain how rainfall happens a)Water vapour turns back to liquid and clouds form. b)Energy from the sun heats the Earth’s surface. c)Air cools as it rises. d)Warm air carrying water vapour rises e)Rain falls from clouds. Answer: B – D – C – A - E

So basically; 1. Air rises 2. Air cools 3. Condensation 4. Clouds form 5. Rain But what makes the air rise..?

Types of rainfall There are three types of rainfall: 1. Relief 2. Convectional 3. Frontal

1. Relief Rain 2. As it hits land it is forced to rise over the mountains 1. Warm moist air travels over the sea 3. Air cools as it is forced to rise 4. Condensation 5. Clouds form 6. Rain What will the weather be like on the other side of the mountain?

Relief rain is quite common in Britain especially in the west where most of the mountainous areas are

2. Convectional Rain 1. The sun heats the ground which heats the air near it 2. Warm air rises 4. Condensation 5. Clouds form 6. Rain 3. Air cools as it is forced to rise What time of year will this happen most in?

Convectional rain is common in the south of Britain in summer – mostly in thunderstorms

3. Frontal Rain 1. Mass of warm, moist tropical air meets a mass of cold, dry polar air. This makes a depression 2. Warm air is lighter so rises over heavier cold air 3. Warm air cools 4. Condensation 5. Clouds form 6. Rain 'front‘

Frontal rain is very common in the winter and usually approach from the South West giving more rain to the West

Review Tasks New KG p77 Activity 2 – copy the table and tick the appropriate boxes. New KG p75 Activities 2 & 3.