11/5/2020

Dr. Shakil Ahmad

NUST Institute of Civil Engineering (NICE)
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (SCEE)
National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)
Islamabad, Pakistan

Outline
What is Precipitation?

Importance of Precipitation

Form of Precipitations

Factors Influencing Precipitation Formation

Classification of Precipitation

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Introduction
All forms of water that reach the earth from the
atmosphere is called Precipitation.
The usual forms are rainfall and snowfall, contribute
significant amounts of water.
Rainfall being the predominant form of precipitation
causing stream flow, especially the flood flow in
majority of rivers. Thus, in this context, rainfall is
used synonymously with precipitation.

Introduction….
In nature water is present in three aggregation states:
solid: snow & ice;
liquid: pure water & solutions;
gaseous: vapors under different grades of pressure
& saturation

The water exists in the atmosphere in these three

aggregation states.

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Introduction….

Importance of Precipitation
Precipitation is one of the most important events of
hydrology.
Floods and droughts are directly related to the
occurrence of precipitation.
Water resources management, water supply schemes,
irrigation, hydrologic data for design of hydraulic
structures and environmental effects of water
resources development projects are related to
precipitation in one way or the other.
So it is important to study various aspects of
precipitation.

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Forms of Precipitation
Forms of precipitation
Liquid: Rain, mist, fog, dew, drizzle
Solid: Snow, frost, sleet, glaze, hail, rime, graupel
Rain:
Is precipitation in the form of water drops of size
larger than 0.5 to 5 mm
The rainfall is classified into:
Light rain – if intensity is trace to 2.5 mm/hr
Moderate rain – if intensity is 2.5 to 7.5 mm/hr
Heavy rain – if intensity is above 7.5 mm/hr

Forms of Precipitation….
Snow:
Snow is formed from ice crystal masses, which
usually combine to form flakes  resulting from
sublimation (water vapor condenses to ice).
Size varies between 1 to 20 mm
Hail (violent thunderstorm)
precipitation in the form of small balls or lumps
usually consisting of concentric layers of clear ice
and compact snow.
Hail varies from 5 to 100 mm in diameter and can
be damaging to crops and small buildings.

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Forms of Precipitation
Fog
Thin cloud of varying size formed near the surface of
earth by condensation of atmosphere vapor
Mist
Very thin fog (0.005 mm to 0.05 mm)
Drizzle
Light steady rain in fine drops (0.5 mm) and intensity < 1
mm/hr
Rain
Condensed water vapor of atmosphere falling in drops
from clouds (> 0.5 mm to maximum 5 mm)

Forms of Precipitation
Sleet
Frozen rain drops while falling through air at
subfreezing temperature
Glaze
Freezing of drizzle or rain when they come in contact
with cold objects.
Snow
Ice crystals resulting from sublimation (water vapor
condenses to ice).
Snow flakes
Ice crystals fused together.

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Forms of Precipitation
Hail
Small lumps of ice (> 5 mm and upto 100 mm) formed
by alternate freezing and melting.
Graupel
Soft hails flattened on contact with hard ground surface.
Dew
Moisture condensed from the atmosphere in small drops
upon cool surfaces.
Frost
Deposit of ice formed on the ground or on the surface of
exposed objects by dew or water vapor

Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
Following four conditions are necessary for the
production of precipitation:
a) A lifting mechanism to produce cooling of the air.
b) A mechanism to produce condensation of water
vapors and formation of cloud droplets.
c) A mechanism to produce growth of cloud droplets to
size capable of falling to the ground against the
lifting force of air
d) A mechanism to produce sufficient accumulation of
moisture to account for observed heavy rainfall rates.

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Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
a) Mechanism of Cooling
The pressure reduction when air ascends from near
the surface to upper levels in the atmosphere is the
only mechanism capable of producing the degree
and rate of cooling needed to account for heavy
rainfall. Cooling lowers the capacity of a given
volume of air to hold a certain amount of water
vapor. As large degrees of super saturation are not
known to occur in the atmosphere, excess moisture
over saturation condenses through the cooling
process.

Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
b) Condensation of Water Vapors
Condensation of water vapors into cloud droplets
takes place on hygroscopic nuclei which are small
particles having an affinity for water. The source of
these condensation nuclei is the particles of sea salt
or such products of combustion of certain sulfurous
and nitrous acids. There appears to be always
sufficient nuclei present in the atmosphere.
Condensation will always occur in air, the lower
atmosphere is cooled to saturation, often before the
saturation point is reached.

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Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
c) Growth of Cloud Droplets
Growth of droplets is required if the liquid water
present in the cloud is to reach the ground. The two
processes regarded as most effective for droplet
growth are:
i. Coalescence of droplets through collision due to
difference in speed of motion between larger and
smaller droplets
ii. Co-existence of ice crystals and water droplets

Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
Co-existence effect generally happens in the
temperature range from 100 to 200 F. If in a layer of
clouds there is a mixture of water droplets and ice
crystals, the saturation vapor pressure over ice is lower
than that over water. This leads to the evaporation of
water drops and condensation of much of this water
on ice crystals causing their growth and ultimate fall
through the clouds. This effect is known as Bergeron’s
effect. The ice crystals will further grow as they fall and
collide with water droplets i.e. coalescence of droplets
through collision

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Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
d) Accumulation of Moisture
Heavy rainfall amount over a river basin exceeds by
far the amount of water vapor at the atmospheric
volume vertically above the basin at the beginning of
the rainfall. Clearly there must be a large net
horizontal inflow of water vapor into the atmosphere
over the basin area. This process is called
convergence, which is defined as the net horizontal
influx of air per unit area.

Factors Influencing Precipitation

Formation
The moisture added to the atmosphere over a basin
may be transported very large distance in the lowest
layer of the atmosphere. When this moist current
reaches a region of active vertical motion it rises
thousands of feet and loses much of its contained
water vapor in just a few hours.

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Classification of Precipitation Based on

the Lifting Mechanism
The precipitation is often classified according to the
factor responsible for lifting of air to higher altitudes.
Following are the various types of precipitation based
on this classification:
i. Convectional or Convective Precipitation
ii. Orographic Precipitation
iii. Cyclonic Precipitation
a) Frontal Precipitation (Cold, Warm, Stationary)
b) Non-Frontal Precipitation

Types of Precipitation
Convective Precipitation
The air close to warm earth gets heated and
rise due to its low density in colder, denser
surrounding, which cools adiabatically i.e.
no heat exchange with the environment to
form clouds which finally burst into thunder
storm. Convective precipitation is spotty
and its intensity may vary from light
showers to cloud bursts.

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Types of Precipitation

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Convective Precipitation

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Types of Precipitation
Orographic precipitation
It results from the mechanical lifting of
warm moisture laden air masses over
natural barriers (such as mountain
ranges). All precipitation in Himalayas
region is orographic.

Types of Precipitation

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Types of Precipitation
Cyclonic Precipitation
Cyclonic precipitation results from lifting of
air masses converging into low pressure area
or cyclone due to pressure difference created
by the unequal heating of earth’s surface.
Cyclonic precipitation may be:
i. Frontal Precipitation
ii. Non-Frontal Precipitation

Types of Precipitation
Frontal precipitation
When two air masses having different temperatures
and humidities clash each other, condensation and
precipitation occur at the surface of contact. This
surface of contact is called Front or Frontal Surface.
If a cold air mass drives out a warm air mass, it is called
‘Cold Front’ and if a warm air mass replaces the
retreating cold mass, it is called ‘Warm Front’. On the
other hand if the two air masses are drawn
simultaneously towards a low pressure area, the front
developed is stationary and called ‘Stationary Front’.

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Types of Precipitation

Types of Precipitation

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Non-frontal Precipitation
If low pressure occurs in an area (called
cyclone), air will flow horizontally from
the surrounding area (high pressure),
causing the air in the low-pressure area
to lift. When the lifted warm-air cools
down at higher attitude, non-frontal
cyclonic precipitation will occur.

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