Forms of Precipitation

Precipitation occurs in many forms e.g. drizzle, rain, glaze, sleet, snow, hail, dew and frost,
depending upon the causes and temperature at the time of formation. Dew is condensation on the
ground of atmospheric vapor caused by radiational cooling of the lower layers of the atmosphere,
usually at night. Frost is dew formed under freezing conditions. Dew and frost are quantitatively
unimportant and rarely measured.

Drizzle: Drop size < 0.5 mm in dia. and intensity is usually < 1 mm/hr and generally occurs in
conjunction with warm frontal lifting.
1. Rain: Drop size is between 0.5 to 6 mm in dia. Drops bigger than 6 mm tend to break up
as they fall. It is formed by condensation and coalescence of cloud droplets at
temperatures above the freezing point.
2. Glaze: It is the ice coating formed when drizzle or rain freezes as it comes in contact with
cold objects on the ground.
3. Sleet: It is frozen raindrops cooled to ice stage while falling through air at sub-freezing
temperature.
4. Snow: It is a precipitation in the form of ice crystals resulting from sublimation, i.e.,
directly from water vapor to ice.
5. SnowFlake: It is made of a number of ice crystals fused to gather.
6. Hail: It is precipitation in the form of balls or lumps of ice over 5 mm diameter formed by
alternate freezing and melting as they are carried up and down in highly turbulent air
currents.
The types of Recording Rain Gauges are:

1. Tipping Bucket Type

This is ideally suited for use as a telemetering rain gauge.The catch from the funnel falls
onto one of a pair of small buckets. These buckets are so balanced that when 0.25mm of rain
falls into one bucket, it tips bringing the other bucket in position. The water from the tipped
bucket is collected in a can.

Tipping actuates an electrically driven pen to trace a record on the graph paper mounted on a
clockwork driven drum. Water collected in the can is measured at regular intervals to check the
total rainfall recorded. The record from this rain gauge gives the intensity of rainfall. These can
be installed in stations located in hilly and inaccessible areas.

2. Weighing Bucket Type

The catch empties into a bucket mounted on a weighing scale. The weight of the bucket and its
contents are recorded on a clock work driven chart. The instrument gives a plot of cumulative
rainfall against time (mass curve of rainfall). In some of the instruments, the recording unit is so
devised that the pen reverses its direction at a preset value.
 3. Natural Syphon Type (Float Type)

The rainfall collected in the funnel shaped collector is led into a float chamber, causing the float
to rise. As the float rises, a pen attached to the float through a lever system records the rainfall on
a rotating drum driven by a clockwork mechanism.

A syphon arrangement empties the float chamber when the float has reached a preset
maximum level. The vertical lines in the chart correspond to the sudden emptying of the float
chamber by syphonic action, which resets the pen to zero level.If there is no rainfall, the pen
traces a horizontal line
 Selection of Rain Gauge Stations

In order that the rainfall catch of a raingauge accurately represents the rainfall in the area
surrounding the raingauge, certain standards are followed while establishing raingauge
stations.The rain gauge station must fulfill following requirements:

● The ground must be level and in the open and the instrument must represent a horizontal
catch surface
● The raingauge must be set as near the ground as possible to reduce wind effects
● The raingauge must be set sufficiently high to prevent splashing, flooding etc
● The instrument must be surrounded by an open fenced area of at least 5.5m x 5.5m. No
object must be closer to the raingauge than 30m or twice the height of the obstruction

Rainfall Measurements by Radar

In an integrated system for measurement of rainfall, rain gauges are used for measuring the total
amount as well as intensity of a rainstorm and a microwave radar (wavelength ~ 3 to 10 cm) is
used for determining the areal extent, location, and movement of rainstorms. Also the amount of
rainfall over large areas can be determined using radars with a good degree of accuracy.
 ● The hydrological range of the radar is about 200km.
● Heavy rains – 10 cm radar
● Light rains and snow – 5cm radar
● Doppler type radars are used for measuring the velocity and distribution of raindrops

CLIMATE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Tropical Rainforest
Tropical rainforest is characterized as hot, very humid, and wet. Normally, there is no dry
season in a tropical rainforest climate, and even if there is, it is very short. Heavy rainfall is
therefore expected throughout the year. Provinces with tropical rainforest climate are those
located near the equator.

Tropical Monsoon

Tropical monsoon is characterized by more rainfall, or less pronounced dry season. This
type of climate comes between tropical rainforest climate and tropical savanna climate.

Tropical Savanna

In contrast to tropical monsoon, tropical savanna has a dry season and gets less rainfall.
Dry season can become severe

Humid Subtropical

Humid subtropical climate is characterized by hot and humid summers, and cold to mild
winters. Provinces with this type of climate are typically located at or near coastal areas.

Oceanic

Oceanic climate has cool summers and cool but not cold winters. It rarely experiences a
dry season as rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, however they may get constant
storms which cause cloudy or overcast conditions.
Types of Climates

Aside from the types mentioned above, climate is also classified based on rainfall
distribution. The climate varies throughout the Philippines. The map below depicts the different
types of climate throughout the Philippine Islands.

Seasons

The Philippines has two main seasons: rainy and dry, also referred to as Summer and
Winter. Rainy season is from June to the early part of October while the dry season is from the
later part of October until May with months of April and May as the hottest and driest months.
Typhoons

Considering that the Philippines sits across the typhoon belt, the country gets an average
of 28 storms and/or typhoons every year but only an average of nine made landfall or crossed the
country. The areas at higher risk of typhoons include northern and eastern Luzon, Bicol region,
and Eastern Visayas region, however, Manila may be affected as well.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Climate-types-in-the-Philippines_fig8_294104577
https://theconstructor.org/water-resources/measurement-precipitation-water-resource-engineering
/4459/
https://www.discoverthephilippines.com/climate-of-the-philippines/