MODULE 8: PRECIPITATION (PART 1)

Intended Learning Outcome:

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Explain the processes involved in the formation of precipitation.

 Identify and describe different forms of precipitation.
 Classify rain and rain showers specific to the Philippines.

Topic Outline:

A. Formation of Precipitation
B. Forms of Precipitation
a. Rain
b. Snow
c. Drizzle
d. Glaze
e. Sleet
f. Hail
C. Classification of Rain & Rain Showers (Philippines)
a. Rains
b. Rain Showers

A. FORMATION OF PRECIPITATION
Any liquid or frozen water that develops in the atmosphere and then descends
to the earth is known as precipitation. It develops in the clouds when water vapor
changes into larger and larger water droplets. Once the droplets become sufficiently
heavy, they fall to the earth. In colder clouds, such as those found at higher altitudes,
the water droplets can freeze and become ice.

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 Figure 1. Hydrologic Cycle

How does precipitation occur?

When water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and rivers, it forms vapor in the air.
This vapor rises as warm air, then cools down. Condensation occurs when the cooled
vapor forms small droplets or ice crystals around tiny particles in the air, creating
clouds. These small droplets collide and merge to form larger ones. Eventually, they
become heavy enough to fall to the ground as precipitation, which may manifest as
rain, snow, sleet, or hail, depending on the temperature.

B. FORMS OF PRECIPITATION
Precipitation may appear in several forms, including liquid, solid, or a
combination, depending upon the production process and the medium it interacts with.
Liquid precipitation presents in several forms, including rain and drizzle, while solid
forms include hail and snow; sleet is a combination of both.

a. Rain
Precipitation in the form of rain occurs when the Earth and atmospheric
conditions exceed the freezing point. Water vapor condenses into droplets
within clouds, and when these droplets become heavy enough, they descend
to the Earth as rain. As it falls, it reaches the ground as rain in the form of water
droplets larger than 0.5 mm to about 6 mm.

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Common Instruments to measure rainfall:

1. Rain Gauge
● A device situated in an open area is used to collect and measure
the volume of liquid precipitation within a specified area over a
designated timeframe.
● The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA) measures rainfall with the
tipping-bucket rain gauge. A funnel channels rain into a small
bucket. At a particular level, the bucket tips and an electrical
sensor records it. Each tip represents a certain rainfall amount.

Figure 2. Standard Rain Gauge (left), Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge (right)

2. Satellite Instruments
● It carries a suite of five instruments that, when combined, allow
scientists to gather a very detailed three-dimensional view of
rainfall patterns.
● Onboard instruments measure cloud formation, temperature, and
moisture to estimate rainfall intensity across large areas.
Meteorological agencies use satellites to track rainfall across
oceans, isolated places, and large land masses.
● PAGASA tracks typhoons and other weather trends using satellite
data.

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 3. Weather Radar
● When electromagnetic waves bounce off precipitation particles,
they can be analyzed to identify rainfall location, intensity, and
movement.
● PAGASA tracks precipitation, storm development, and real-time
weather using multiple Doppler radar systems across the country.
● Long-range Weather Surveillance radar tracks typhoons and
cloud masses at 400 km or less.

b. Snow
● Snow is a type of solid precipitation that forms when the temperature
throughout the atmosphere is below the freezing point.
● It is made up of ice crystals that typically come together to create flakes.
● When fresh, snow has an initial density varying from 0.06 to 0.15 g/cc
and it is usual to assume an average density of 0.1 g/cc.
● Snowfall, unlike rainfall, can accumulate on a surface for a while before
melting and generating runoff.

Figure 3. Snowing

c. Drizzle
● Drizzle is the drops falling on the edge of a rain zone or during light
rainfall may be as small as drizzle drops, owing to their partial
evaporation.
● In this situation, raindrops are distinguished from drizzle drops in that
they are more scattered. In similar clouds that formed over the ocean,
updrafts were even weaker than over land. As a result, droplets fell out

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 of the clouds as drizzle, before they had the opportunity to grow into full-
sized raindrops.
● This helps explain the preponderance of drizzle over the ocean.
● Drizzle can reduce visibility, especially when combined with mist or fog.
● Drizzle often occurs in regions with maritime climates, such as coastal
areas, where moist, stable air is present.
● Drizzle slick roads and sidewalks, especially when oil or dust
accumulates.

Figure 4. Drizzle

d. Glaze
● Glaze precipitation is hazardous because it can create very slippery
conditions on roads, power lines, trees, and other exposed surfaces. It
can cause power outages, tree dam age, and dangerous driving
conditions. Glazing renders earthenware impermeable to water, sealing
the inherent porosity of earthenware.
● It also gives a tougher surface. When the water droplet (rain or drizzle)
come in contact with ground which have a temperature near about 0° C
or less than it, these water drops freeze and form ice coating on ground
surface.

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 Figure 5. Glaze

e. Sleet
● A frozen raindrops of transparent grains which form when rain falls
through air at subfreezing temperature which is below freezing point of
water at 0°C form a sleet. A melted snowflakes falling through in that
temperature will result in small transparent ice pellets that can
accumulate and create slippery surfaces.
● Sleet occurs when a snowflake or frozen raindrop melt falls through a
shallow layer of warm air, it will partially melt. Then these slushy drops
will fall into colder air which will cause them to re-freeze which will form
ice pellets or as we know as sleet before reaching the ground.

Figure 6. Illustration of the Formation of Precipitation

The visual illustrations in Figure 6 shows how different forms of precipitation

are created. In sleet, when the snowflakes from the cloud reaches the warmer air
layer of the atmosphere which is the red color in the visual, it partially melted just

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 like the visual of the rain then when it fall through the colder air which represent the
blue color of the illustration, it refreezes again like the snow which forms ice pellets
or as we know as sleet before reaching the ground.

f. Hail
● It is a showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or masses of
ice that are larger than 8 mm in size. The rainfall of ice or "pag-ulan ng
yelo" is also encountered in this form of precipitation due to its ice-like
structure that descends from the heavens, as hail is classified as
showery precipitation. The ice that falls from the atmosphere is of
sufficient size to cause injury despite its diminutive size.
● Hail is a type of precipitation that occurs in violent thunderstorms when
strong wind going upward to the thunderstorm carry rain droplets into
cold portions of the atmosphere which causes super-cooled water
droplets to collide with one another. These frozen water droplets that
accumulate layers of ice as they are tossed in the atmosphere by strong
updrafts. When they become too heavy, they fall to the ground as
irregular pellets or lumps of ice which are called hailstone.

Figure 7. Formation of Hail

Figure 3 above elaborates on how hail forms. Hail forms during intense
thunderstorms where powerful upward air currents lift water droplets high into the
atmosphere, which represents the red line going upward in the thunderstorm. Then
these droplets freeze in the center of the thunderstorm and accumulate layers of ice
as they collide with one another, which is the snow-like figure in the image below,

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creating hailstones that will eventually fall when they become too heavy for the
updrafts to support.

C. CLASSIFICATION OF RAINS AND RAINSHOWER

Rain is classified based on the intensity where it helps us to identify what we

are experiencing during rainfall and what potential impact or hazard can occur. It is
classified based on the rate which is typically measured in millimeters per hour.

CLASSIFICATION OF RAIN BASED ON INTENSITY

TYPE INTENSITY CHARACTERISTIC

Some indication of this is small streams may

Light Rain 2.5 mm/h
flow in gutters.

Puddles rapidly forming and down pipes

Moderate Rain 2.5 - 7.5 mm/h
flowing freely.

The sky is overcast, and there is a continuous

Heavy Rain >7.5 mm/h precipitation which May cause roaring noise on
roofs.

Rains are classified into three main types based on the origin:

a. Convectional Rainfall

It occurs when the heated

air from the earth’s surface rises
up along with the water vapor that
will cause condensation that
forms clouds and eventually
precipitation occurs afterwards.

Figure 8. Convectional Rainfall

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b. Orographic or Relief Rainfall

It occurs when the moist air is

pushed over on a high altitude location
just like mountains or hills which this
moist air cools down and it will
condensed that forms clouds and
precipitation occurs.

Figure 9. Orographic or Relief Rainfall

c. Cyclonic or Frontal Rainfall

Cyclonic Rainfall is formed when

the moist air and cold air collide with
each other. Moist air is lighter so it will
eventually lift and cool down when it
converges to cold air. As the air rises, it
cools down and it will condense.

Figure 10. Cyclonic or Frontal Rainfall

RAIN SHOWERS

Rain showers are the short sudden burst of very intense rain. Compared to a
rain which is taking much longer to stop, Rain Showers typically last only a short period
of time. Rain showers occur in small areas where one location is experiencing rain
and the other near location is not.

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Types of Rain Showers

TYPE CHARACTERISTIC

a. Scattered Rain Shower

A sudden burst of rainfall that occurs in a
random area which covers a large area
but it is not affecting the entire region.
This is often caused by formation of
cumulus clouds where warm air rises
and condenses.

b. Isolated Rain Shower

A sudden burst of rainfall that occurs only
in a small part of the region often
covering only a few kilometers. Usually it
only lasts a few minutes to an hour which
is also commonly occurring during warm
weather.

c. Occasional Rain Shower

A sudden burst of rainfall typically occurs
at irregular timings throughout the day.
Occasional Rain showers typically cover
larger areas compared to isolated rainfall
which only covers a few kilometers.

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d. Squally Rain Showers
A sudden burst of rainfall accompanied
by strong and gusty wind. It is often quick
yet powerful rain showers

Note:

 Humidity, air currents, proximity to water bodies, and geographical features

affect precipitation levels, duration, and patterns. Since oceans cover most of
the Earth, around 80% of precipitation falls over them, with only 20% occurring
on land annually.
 Rains frequently occur in connection with the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat),
tropical depressions, or low-pressure systems.
 Rain showers are often associated with convective systems, including
thunderstorms or localized clouds that are typically observed during the warm
afternoons of the wet season.

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REFERENCES:

4 News Now. (2021, November 29). Video Brainstorm: Explaining sleet, graupel, and

hail [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4psvqSDoAkI

NCERT notes: Types of rainfall - convectional, orographic and frontal. (n.d.). BYJUS.

https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/ncert-notes-geography-types-of-rainfall/

NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. (n.d.). Hail Basics.

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/#:~:text=What%20is%20h

ail%3F,deadly%20to%20livestock%20and%20people.

NOAA’s National Weather Service. (n.d.). Freezing rain and sleet.

https://www.weather.gov/rnk/Measure_Icing#:~:text=Sleet%20is%20simply%2

0frozen%20raindrops,freeze%20before%20reaching%20the%20ground.

PAGASA. (n.d.). https://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/information/weather-terminologies

Precipitation. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/precipitation/

Srivastava, R., & Jain, A. (2017). Engineering Hydrology. McGraw Hill Education

Offices.

Subramanya, K. (2013). Engineering Hydrology.

WeatherSTEM. (2017). Measuring precipitation. WeatherSTEM.

https://learn.weatherstem.com/modules/learn/lessons/114/17.html

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