What does precipitation mean

We may ask what excess will be required to prevent the precipitation of silver chloride in the experiment just tried. In meteorology , the fall of water, ice, or snow deposited on the surface of the Earth from the atmosphere. In chemistry , a chemical reaction in a solution in which a solid material is formed and subsequently falls, as a precipitate , to the bottom of the container. New Word List Word List. Save This Word!

See synonyms for precipitation on Thesaurus. Chemistry , Physics. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

It is distinguished from cloud and virga in that it must reach the ground. A precipitating or being precipitated; specif. A hastening or acceleration, especially one that is sudden or unexpected. Precipitancy; rash haste; impetuosity. A bringing on suddenly; acceleration. A form of water, such as rain, snow, or sleet, that condenses from the atmosphere, becomes too heavy to remain suspended, and falls to the Earth's surface.

Snow is one of the solid types of precipitation, this means that it is made of water that has been frozen. Snow occurs every winter in the UK, but some parts may not see snow every year. Sleet is quite common in winter in the UK; it is a mix of rain and snow and occurs when it is too warm for just snow to fall. Hail is another type of frozen precipitation, but unlike snow, which is quite soft, hail is hard and icy.

There are other types of precipitation, but these are quite rare and some need very special conditions to occur. One of these is diamond dust, which is when tiny ice crystals form in the sky somewhere very cold; the name comes from its sparkly appearance. Precipitation occurs when a local portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapour, so that the water condenses and "precipitates".

Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the water vapour does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapour to the air. Generally, precipitation will fall to the surface; an exception is virga which evaporates before reaching the surface. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud.

Rain drops range in size from oblate, pancake-like shapes for larger drops, to small spheres for smaller drops. Unlike raindrops, snowflakes grow in a variety of different shapes and patterns, determined by the temperature and humidity characteristics of the air the snowflake moves through on its way to the ground.

While snow and ice pellets require temperatures close to the ground to be near or below freezing, hail can occur during much warmer temperature regimes due to the process of its formation.

The numerical value of precipitation in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2. The life cycle of clouds is really important when we think about planet habitability, but clouds and precipitation are really complicated and too complex to model completely.

We're looking for simpler ways to understand how clouds evolve, and a first step is whether cloud droplets evaporate in the atmosphere or make it to the surface as rain.

Our wettest year on record in California was in , when we saw nearly twice the normal amount of precipitation. Even if this year has more rain than that, we wouldn't get rid of the drought entirely. Wherever the storms hit shore on West Coast is where the heaviest precipitation occurs, and that can be very beneficial in areas that often don't have enough water — and we have the drought going right now.

The Southwest monsoon season is slightly favored for , confidence in below-normal precipitation is generally higher for eastern areas of the monsoon region. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Forgot your password?