PRECIPITATION: OCCURRENCE AND Hail

MEASUREMENT Hail is created when moisture and wind

are together. Inside the cumulonimbus clouds
ice crystals form, and begin to fall towards the
3.1.1 Formation, Forms, Types and Artificially surface of Earth. When this starts to happen
Induced. wind gusts start to pick up the ice crystals
pushing them up high into the clouds. As they
3.1.2 Measurement
start to fall down again they continue to grow in
3.1.3 Precipitation Data Analysis size. A wind gust might catch the hail stone
again which will push it back up in to the cloud.
This whole process gets repeated several times
Formation before the hail stone becomes so big that it’s too
heavy for the wind to carry so it must fall towards
Precipitation only comes down to the
Earth.
ground after it condenses in the atmosphere.
Condensation is when water vapour turns into
Shapes of Hail particles
liquid water. We are surrounded by water
 Spherical
vapour. But if it changes back into liquid water
 Conical
and builds up around dust particles in the air, we
 Irregular
get clouds. If the cloud droplets get heavy
enough, they fall back to the ground.
Fog
Forms of Precipitation: There is really no different between fog
and the clouds that are high in the sky. In simple
 Dew
terms fog is; a cloud that has formed near the
 Mist
surface of the Earth.
 Fog
 Rain
Dew
 Hail The small drop of water which can be
 Snow found on cool surfaces like grass in the morning
 Rime This is the result of atmospheric vapour
 Glaze condensing on the surface in the colder night air
 Sleet Dew Point is the temperature in which
Rain condensation starts to take place or when dew
is created.
Rain is the most common type of
precipitation in our atmosphere. Rain is when Mist/Drizzle
liquid droplets fall to the surface of the earth. Mist is a bunch of small droplets of water
There are two different forms of rain, either which are in the air. This occurs with cold air
in the form of showers and drizzles. when it is above a warm surface, for example
water.
• Showers are heavy, large drops of rain Fog and mist are very similar, the only
and usually only last a period of time. difference is their visibility.
• Drizzles however usually last longer and  If you cannot see 1 kilometer or less you
are made up of smaller droplets of water. know you’re dealing with fog.
 You can see visuals through mist and it
Snow is more haze looking than a thicker
Snow forms when water vapor turns substance.
directly into ice without ever passing through a
liquid state. This happens as water condenses Glaze
around an ice crystal. Glaze is the ice coating, generally clear
and smooth, formed on exposed surfaces by the
freezing of super cooled water deposited by rain
or drizzle.
Rime Hygroscopic
Rime is the white opaque of ice granules  It disperses salts through flares or
more or less separated by trapped air and explosives in the lower portions of
formed by rapid freezing of super cooled water clouds.
drops impinging on exposed objects.  The salts grow in size as water joins with
them.
Sleet
Measurement of Precipitation
Sleet consist of transparent, globular,
solid grains of ice formed by the freezing of Precipitation is expressed in terms of the
raindrops or freezing of largely melted ice vertical depth to which water from it would stand
crystals falling through a layer of sub-freezing air on a level surface area if all the water from it
near the Earth’s surface. were collected on this surface.

Artificially Induced Precipitation The depth is to which water would

accumulate on the horizontal projection of the
earth’s surface, if there were no losses by
It’s a practice of artificially inducing or
evaporation, infiltration and runoff and if any part
increasing precipitation through clouds by
falling as snow etc. melted.
adding external agents.
Foreign particles which are drenched Measurement of precipitation based on the ff;
over the clouds can be Dry ice (solid carbon
dioxide), Silver iodide, Salt powder, etc. This  Amount of precipitation
process is known as Cloud Seeding.  Intensity of precipitation
 Duration of precipitation
Condition Required for Cloud Seeding  Areal extent of precipitation.
Measurement methods
Right atmospheric conditions with plenty
of clouds that are capable of rain is required for Measurement of precipitation (Rain and Snow)
cloud seeding. We cannot go and seed the clear can be done by various devices. These
skies. Clouds form from the condensation of measuring devices and techniques are;
invisible water vapour on nuclei from dust,
 Rain Gauges
pollen and salt from ocean spray. Cloud seeding
 Snow Gauges
increases the number of these available nuclei.
 Radars, Satellites
Raindrops or ice crystals might not form without
 Scratching of snow packs
these added nuclei.
 Water equivalent in snow packs
Types of Cloud Seeding Rain gauges are most commonly used for the
measurement of precipitation, both in terms of
Static rain fall and snow. A rain gauge consists of a
 Spreading silver iodide into clouds cylindrical vessel assembly kept in the open to
 It provides a crystal around which collect rain. Rainfall collected in the rain gauge
moisture can condense. is measured at regular intervals.
 Moisture is already present in the clouds
These are two main types of rain gages
but silver iodide makes rain clouds more
which are used to measure the precipitation.
effective at dispensing their water
 Non-recording rain gauges
Dynamic
 Recording rain gauges.
 Dynamic cloud seeding aim to boost
vertical air currents, which encourages Non recording gauges - It simply gives the
more water to pass through the clouds, amount of precipitation after 24 hours (daily
translating into more rain and it is more precipitation).
complex than static.
Recording rain gauges - These rain gauges
 More ice crystals are used in dynamic
are also called integrating rain gauges since
cloud seeding than static
they record cumulative rainfall. In addition to the
total amount of rainfall at a station, it gives the and with help of measuring tape helps to
times of onset. measure the depth of snow.
Main types of recording rain gauges; A snow gauges is a type of instrument used
to measure the solid form of precipitation.
 Float type rain gauges
 Tipping bucket type rain gauges Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is a common
 Weighing type rain gauges snow pack measurement. It is the amount of
water contained within the snow pack. It can be
A tipping bucket rain gauge is used for thought of as the depth of water that would
measurement of rainfall. It measures the rainfall theoretically result if melted the entire snow
with a least count of 1mm and gives out one pack instantaneously
electrical pulse for every millimeter of rainfall.
Equipment used ; Standard rain gages without
Weighing type gauges - it consist of a storage receivers, Weighing type rain gages, snow
bin, which is weighed to record the mass. It gages
weighs rain or snow which falls into a bucket, set
on a platform with a springor lever balance. The The equivalent amount of water in a snow
increasing weight of the bucket and its contents pack can be measured by
are recorded on a chart. The record shows the
 Heating
accumulation of precipitation.
 Weighing
Float recording gauges - The rise of float with  Adding measured amount of hot water.
increasing catch of rainfall is recorded. Some
By heating - the equivalent amount in mm of
gauges must be emptied manually while others
water can be obtained by heating the cylinder. it
are emptied automatically using self-starting
will melt the snow and the depth of the liquid
siphons. In most gauges oil or mercury is the
water can be measured with a measuring stick
float and is placed in the receiver but in some
but this approach is adjustable because some
cases the receiver rests on a bath of oil or
water may get evaporated during the heating.
mercury and the float measures the rise of oil or
mercury displaced by the increasing weight of
the receiver as the rainfall catch freezes. Float
By weighing - weight is measured either by
may get damage by rainfall catch freezer.
weighing type of rain gauges or by using a snow
Measurement of snow gauge
In case of snow fall following two properties W=W1 - W2
of more interest are measured

Depth of snow at a particular place in

W1 = weight of snow +empty cylinder
mm/inches, Equivalent amount of water in mm.
W2 = weight of empty cylinder
Depth of snow fall at a particular place can
be measured by the following methods; W= weight of snow
standard rain gauges without collections, snow
By scratching - A measured amount of hot
gauges, by scratching snow packs
water is added into the cylinder which will melt
the snow. Now measure the total depth of water
in the cylinder “h1”
Depth of snow methods
h=h1 - h2
 Standard rain gauges can also be used
for measuring the snow depth, with some Where,
alterations in the arrangement of rain
h2 = measured amount of hot water
gauges, particularly, the collectors are
not used h = equivalent amount of water
 On a paved surface with snow over it,
scratching that snow layer with some
scrapper helps to measure the depth of
snow fall with a tape. Visual observation
 Precipitation Data Analysis

Before using the rainfall records of a station,

it is necessary to first check the data for
continuity and consistency.
The continuity of a record may be broken
with missing data due to many reasons such as
damage or fault in rain gauge during a period.
The missing data can be estimated by using
the data of the neighbouring stations.
In this calculation the normal rainfall used as
a standard of comparison.

The normal rainfall is the average value of

rainfall at a particular date, month or year or a
specified 30-year period.

The 30-year normal are recomputed every

decade.
Thus the term normal annual precipitation at
station A means the annual precipitation at A
based on specified 30 year record.

Processes on how to analyse precipitation data.

 Estimation of missing data
 Double-Mass Analysis
 Mean Areal Precipitation
 Depth-Area-Duration Analysis
 Frequency Analysis

Estimating Missing Precipitation Data

Radar measurements - a weather radar is a The point observation from a precipitation

type of radar used to locate precipitation, gage may have a short break in the record
calculate its motion, estimate its type (rain, because of instrument failure or absence of the
snow, hail, etc.), and forecast its future position observer. Thus, it is often necessary to estimate
and intensity. Weather radars are mostly the missing record using data from the
Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion neighbouring station. The following methods are
of rain droplets in addition to intensity of the most commonly used for estimating the missing
precipitation. Both types of data can be records.
analysed to determine the structure of storms
 Simple Arithmetic Method
and their potential to cause severe weather.
 Normal Ratio Method
A weather satellite is a type of satellite
Simple Arithmetic Method
that is primarily used to monitor the weather and
climate of the earth. These meteorological The missing precipitation Px can be
satellites, however, see more than clouds and determined using simple arithmetic average, if
cloud systems, like other types of environmental the normal annual precipitation at various
information collected using weather satellite. stations are within 10% of normal precipitation
at station, x, :
1
Px  [P1 + P2 + P3...... + Pm]
m
  Mean Areal Precipitation
Methods to convert the point rainfall values at
Normal Ratio Method
various stations into an average value over a
If the normal precipitations vary catchment are;
considerably then Px is estimated by weighting
 Arithmetical-Mean Method
the precipitation at various stations by ratios of
 Thiessen-Mean Method
normal annual precipitation.
 Isohyetal Method
Nx  P1 P 2 Pm 
Px    ......... 
m  N1 N 2 Nm 
When the rainfall measured at various
stations in a catchment show a little variation,
This method is based on selecting m (m the average precipitation over the catchment
is usually 3) stations that are near and area is taken as the arithmetic mean of the
approximately evenly spaced around the station station values.
with missing record. Thus if P1,P2......Pl......Pn are the rainfall
values in a given period N stations within a
catchment, then the value of the P over the
Test for Consistency of Record catchment by the arithmetic-mean method is
If the conditions relevant to the recording
  ... Pl  ...... Pn
P P P
N
1
P
of raingauge station have undergone a
significant change during the period of record,
1 2
 l
N N i 1
inconsistency would arise in the rainfall data of
that station.
In practice, this method is used very rarely.
Causes of inconsistency of records are;
Thiessen-Mean Method
 Shifting of a raingauge station to a new
location. The Thiessen method is based on the
 The neighbourhood of the stations assumption that measured amounts at any
undergoing a marked change station can be applied halfway to the next station
 Change in the ecosystem due to in any direction, which means that for any point
calamities, such as forest fires and rainfall is equal to the observed rainfall at the
landslides. closest gauge.
 Occurrence of observational error from a
The weights of the rain gauges are
certain date.
computed by their relative areas, which are
The checking of inconsistency of a record is estimated with the Thiessen polygon network.
done by the double-mass curve technique.
The polygons are formed by the
The precipitation values at station X beyond perpendicular bisectors of the lines joining
the period of change of regime is corrected by nearby stations.
using
The area of each polygon is used to

 Px M c
weight the rainfall amount of the station in the
P cx
center of the polygon.
M a If the amount for any station is missing,
the polygon must be changed.
Pcx = corrected precipitation at any time
period t1 at station X. The Thiessen method is unable to
consider orographic differences in rainfall
Px = original recorded precipitation at any distributions.
time period t1 at station X.

Mc = corrected slope of the double-mass

curve.
Ma = original slope of the double-mass curve
Where:
P= is the weighted average

P’s = are measurements

A’s= are areas of each polygon

Isohyetal Method

This is considered as one of the most

accurate methods, but it is dependent on the
skill and experience of the analyst. Frequency Analysis

The method requires the plotting of Intensity Duration Frequency Curves:

isohyets as shown in the figure and calculating In hydrology, frequency analysis of
the areas enclosed either between the isohyets station rainfall data is done for use in design of
or between an isohyet and the catchment bridges and culverts on highways, design of
boundary. storm drains etc. With the advancement of
The areas may be measured with a science of hydrology rainfall frequency analysis
planimeter if the catchment map is drawn to a is done using Gumble’s extreme-value
scale distribution and annual series data.

Now the frequency analysis concept is

applied on a seasonal basis and for areal
Depth-Area-Duration Analysis frequency. The rainfall records of deficient
Once the sufficient rainfall records for the length have to be extended by station year
region are collected the basic or raw data can method. The results of frequency analysis are
be analysed and processed to produce useful plotted on the log-log paper. The typical
information in the form of curves or statistical intensity-duration frequency curves are
values for use in the planning of water resources
development projects.

Many hydrologic problems require an

analysis of time as well as areal distribution of
storm rainfall. Depth-Area-Duration (DAD)
analysis of a storm is done to determine the
maximum amounts of rainfall within various
durations over areas of various sizes.

The preparation of DAD curves is done in

following steps:
1. Examine the rainfall records of the region in
which catchment area under consideration is
located. Also consider records of
meteorologically similar regions. From it prepare
a list of most severe storms with their dates of
occurrence and duration.
2. For the listed severe storms prepare iso-
hyetal maps and determine the rainfall values
over the area of each isohyet (rainfall contour). Reporters:
John Vincent L. Sarboda
3. Draw on a graph curves connecting area and Celine T. Buga-ay
rainfall values for different durations say 1 day Dimple Rose T. Plangca
rainfall, 2 day rainfall, 3 days rainfall.