This is some info about precipitation
When cloud particles become too heavy to remain suspended in the air, they fall to the earth as precipitation. Precipitation occurs in a variety of forms; hail, rain, freezing rain, sleet or snow.
The clouds floating overhead contain water vapor and cloud droplets, which are small drops of condensed water. These droplets are way too small to fall as precipitation, but they are large enough to form visible clouds. Water is continually evaporating and condensing in the sky. If you look closely at a cloud you can see some parts disappearing (evaporating) while other parts are growing (condensation). Most of the condensed water in clouds does not fall as precipitation because their fall speed is not large enough to overcome updrafts which support the clouds. For precipitation to happen, first tiny water droplets must condense on even tinier dust, salt, or smoke particles, which act as a nucleus. Water droplets may grow as a result of additional condensation of water vapor when the particles collide. If enough collisions occur to produce a droplet with a fall velocity which exceeds the cloud updraft speed, then it will fall out of the cloud as precipitation. This is not a trivial task since millions of cloud droplets are required to produce a single raindrop. A more efficient mechanism (known as the Bergeron-Findeisen process) for producing a precipitation-sized drop is through a process which leads to the rapid growth of ice crystals at the expense of the water vapor present in a cloud. These crystals may fall as snow, or melt and fall as rain.
Believe it or not, a heavy downpour in the tropics, a blizzard in the Northeast and a daylong drizzle in the Pacific Northwest are all related to each other. This is because they are different types of precipitation, which is water that falls back to the ground after condensing in the atmosphere. That means that any type of falling water, be it liquid or frozen, is falling as precipitation. Heavy or light rain, sleet, snow, drizzle and hail are all types of precipitation.
However, fog and dew are not considered precipitation because these two processes are actually water condensing. As dew, it is condensing on objects. As fog, it's condensing in the air, but low to the ground. Let's look at how this works a bit more closely.
Precipitation is any form of liquid or solid water particles that fall from the atmosphere and reach the surface of the Earth. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel and hail. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet.
When cloud particles become too heavy to remain suspended in the air, they fall to the earth as precipitation. Precipitation occurs in a variety of forms; hail, rain, freezing rain, sleet or snow.
The clouds floating overhead contain water vapor and cloud droplets, which are small drops of condensed water. These droplets are way too small to fall as precipitation, but they are large enough to form visible clouds. Water is continually evaporating and condensing in the sky. If you look closely at a cloud you can see some parts disappearing (evaporating) while other parts are growing (condensation). Most of the condensed water in clouds does not fall as precipitation because their fall speed is not large enough to overcome updrafts which support the clouds. For precipitation to happen, first tiny water droplets must condense on even tinier dust, salt, or smoke particles, which act as a nucleus. Water droplets may grow as a result of additional condensation of water vapor when the particles collide. If enough collisions occur to produce a droplet with a fall velocity which exceeds the cloud updraft speed, then it will fall out of the cloud as precipitation. This is not a trivial task since millions of cloud droplets are required to produce a single raindrop. A more efficient mechanism (known as the Bergeron-Findeisen process) for producing a precipitation-sized drop is through a process which leads to the rapid growth of ice crystals at the expense of the water vapor present in a cloud. These crystals may fall as snow, or melt and fall as rain.
Believe it or not, a heavy downpour in the tropics, a blizzard in the Northeast and a daylong drizzle in the Pacific Northwest are all related to each other. This is because they are different types of precipitation, which is water that falls back to the ground after condensing in the atmosphere. That means that any type of falling water, be it liquid or frozen, is falling as precipitation. Heavy or light rain, sleet, snow, drizzle and hail are all types of precipitation.
However, fog and dew are not considered precipitation because these two processes are actually water condensing. As dew, it is condensing on objects. As fog, it's condensing in the air, but low to the ground. Let's look at how this works a bit more closely.
Precipitation is any form of liquid or solid water particles that fall from the atmosphere and reach the surface of the Earth. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel and hail. Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet.