The Atmosphere - Chapter 2: Forms of Precipitation

Question 1

Droplets large enough to be felt on face when air is moving. Associated with stratus clouds.

Answer 1

Mist

Question 2

Small uniform drops that fall from stratus clouds, generally for several hours.

Answer 2

Drizzle

Question 3

Generally produced by nimbostratus or cumulonimbus clouds. When heavy, it can show high variability from one place to another

Answer 3

Rain

Question 4

Small, spherical to lumpy ice particles that form when raindrops freeze while falling through a layer of subfreezing air. Because the ice particles are small, damage is generally minor. This can make travel hazardous

Answer 4

Sleet

Question 5

Produced when supercooled raindrops freeze on contact with solid objects. Can form a thick coating of ice having sufficient weight to seriously damage trees and power lines

Answer 5

Glaze

Question 6

Deposits usually consisting of ice feathers that point into the wind. These delicate, frostlike accumulations form as supercooled clouds where water vapor is deposited as ice crystals that remain frozen during descent

Answer 6

Snow

Question 7

Precipitation in the form of hard, rounded pellets or irregular lumps of ice. Produced in large, convective, cumulonimbus clouds, where frozen ice particles and supercooled water coexist

Answer 7

Hail

Question 8

Sometimes called soft hail, graupel forms as rime collects on snow crystals to produce irregular masses or soft ice. Because these particles are softer than hailstones, they normally flatten out upon impact

Answer 8

Graupel