Types of Precipitation

Regardless of the climate, weather around the world falls into three basic categories;
precipitation, obscurations and 'other' phenomena. Precipitation is any form of water
particle, whether liquid or solid, that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the ground. The
different types of precipitation are:
Rain
Most commonly observed, drops larger than drizzle (0.02 inch / 0.5 mm or more) are
considered rain. However, smaller drops are also considered raindrops if, in contrast to
drizzle, they are widely separated.

Drizzle
Fairly uniform precipitation composed exclusively of fine drops very close together. Drizzle
appears to float while following air currents, but unlike fog droplets, it falls to the ground.
Quite often fog and drizzle occur together.
Ice Pellets (Sleet)
Precipitation of transparent or translucent pellets of ice, which are round or irregular hard
grains of ice consisting of frozen raindrops, or largely melted then refrozen snowflakes.
Hail
Precipitation in the form of small balls or other pieces of ice falling separately or frozen
together in irregular lumps. Associated with thunderstorms, individual hail stones are ¼ inch
(5 mm) or greater in diameter. Hail sizes of 1 inch (2.5 cm) or more are indicative of severe
thunderstorms.
Small Hail (Snow Pellets)
Precipitation of white, opaque grains of ice that are round or sometimes conical. Diameters
are less than ¼ inch (5 mm).
Snow
Precipitation of snow crystals that are mostly branched and in the form of six-pointed stars.
Snow Grains
Precipitation of very small, white, and opaque grains of ice. Basically, this is frozen drizzle.
Ice Crystals
Generally occurring in very cold regions, they are falling crystals of ice in the form of
needles, columns, or plates. Also called 'diamond dust', ice crystals appear like fog with
individual water particles forming directly as ice. The shape of the individual ice crystals
causes the 'light pillar' optical effect above the light source.