Essential Question How do Meteorologist Predict Weather? Weather Patterns Table of Contents Precipitation 6.1 Essential Question How do Meteorologist Predict Weather? What are the Common Types of Precipitation?

Clouds Cloud Types There are many different types of clouds.

Vocabulary 6.2 Precipitation- Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Rain Gauge- An instrument used to measure precipitation

What Are the Common Types of Precipitation? Any form of water that falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface is precipitation. Common types of precipitation include: rain, sleet, freezing rain, snow, and hail. Rain Prevailing winds move air masses (water vapor) Rain is the most common. (They come in different sizes!!!) Drops of water are called rain if they are at least 0.5 millimeters in diameter. (L) Smaller drops of water are called drizzle (M) Even smaller ones are called mist. (S)

Cloud droplets condense to become larger droplets. Precipitation Water Droplets Cloud droplets condense to become larger droplets.

Instrument to Measure Rain Funnel (10x more than a tube alone) Measuring Rain An open-ended can or tube that collects rainfall is called a rain gauge. measure by: Dipping ruler into the water or by reading a scale To get the actual depth, you divide by ten. #cm/10

Precipitation Rain Gauge The rain gauge, measuring in centimeters, collects ten times the actual depth of rain that falls.

Freezing Precipitation There are four types of freezing precipitation: sleet Snow freezing rain Hail Freezing rain is rain that freezes when it hits a cold surface. When clouds are colder, water vapor can convert directly into ice crystals, forming snow.

Forms of Precipitation Sleet When raindrops fall through a layer of air colder than 0°C they can freeze into ice particles. Ice particles smaller than 5 millimeters in diameter Hailstones Round pellets of ice larger than 5 mm in diameter Hail forms only inside cumulonimbus clouds during thunderstorms. It forms when strong updrafts repeatedly carry ice pellets through cold regions of a cloud, adding another layer of ice each time. http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/learn/navigateIDP.do?method=vlo&internalId=140611110000004#

Precipitation Freezing Precipitation What would be the air and ground temperature ranges for each type of precipitation?

Resources Song http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/play-educational-song.php?song=Snowflake,%20Snowflake Types of Precipitation http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0114-precipitation-types.php Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsVdIVG4CI

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