Aim: What are some different types of precipitation? I. Precipitation – any type of liquid or solid water that falls to Earth’s surface. All precipitation comes from clouds. A. Types of Precipitation DID YOU KNOW? It takes a million droplets to form one raindrop!! 1. Rain and Drizzle – raindrops from from cloud droplets or from ice crystals that melt as they fall. Drizzle usually comes from stratus clouds.

2. Freezing Rain – Raindrops that freeze when they hit the ground or other surfaces in cold weather. Covers surfaces with a coating of ice. 3. Sleet – When rain passes through a layer of cold air, it can freeze before hitting the ground. The small pellets of ice are called sleet. 4. Snow – as ice crystals grow and merge in clouds, they become snowflakes. When the snowflakes pass through moist air near freezing, they tend to join together in clumps. In colder and drier weather, the snow flakes do not join together and the snow is powdery.

5. Hail – Often occurs in warm weather. Lumps or ball s of ice that fall from cumulonimbus clouds are called hail. a. During thunderstorms, violent air currents hurl ice pellets around the cloud. These pellets grow as water droplets freeze onto them at high elevations.