Definition

 All types of moisture reaching the surface of earth from

atmosphere.
Precipitation is the basic input to the hydrology .
▪ Factors determining
precipitation or the
amount of atmospheric
moisture over a region
▪ Climate
▪ Geography
▪ Ocean surfaces is the
chief source of moisture
for precipitation
Forms of precipitation
Rain
 Rain is the most common type of
precipitation in our atmosphere. Rain is
when liquid droplets fall to the surface of
the Earth.
 There are two different forms of rain,
either in the form of
 showers
 drizzles
 Showers are heavy, large drops of rain Light
and usually only last a period of time. I = 2.5mm/hr
 Drizzles however usually last longer
and are made up of smaller droplets Moderate
of water. I = 2.8-7.6mm/hr
 Rain can either be formed as ice crystals
melt or it can be smaller water droplets. Heavy
I > 7.6 mm/hr
 Snow
 Snow is the second most common precipitation in the
North East.
 Snow forms when water vapor turns directly into ice
without ever passing through a liquid state. This
happens as water condenses around an ice crystal.

Density of freshly fallen

snow varies between 125-
500mm of snow required
to equal 25mm of liquid
water

Average density (specific

gravity) = 0.1
Hail
 Hail is created when moisture and wind are together. Inside
the cumulonimbus clouds ice crystals form, and begin to fall
towards the surface of Earth. When this starts to happen
wind gusts start to pick up the ice crystals pushing them up
high into the clouds. As they start to fall down again they
continue to grow in size. A wind gust might catch the hail
stone again which will push it back up into the cloud. This
whole process gets repeated several times before the hail
stone becomes so big that it is too heavy for the wind to carry
so it must fall towards Earth.
Shapes of hail particles
1. Spherical
2. Conical
3. Irregular

Diameter range 5 to 125 mm

Specific gravity = 0.8

Average density (specific gravity) =

0.1
 Fog
▪ There is really no different between fog and the
clouds that are high in the sky. In simple terms
fog is; a cloud that has formed near the surface of
the Earth.

 There are four main types of fog,

 radiation fog
 advection fog
 upslope fog
 evaporation fog
 Dew
 The small drops of water which can be found on cool
surfaces like grass in the morning.
 This is the result of atmospheric vapor condensing on
the surface in the colder night air.
 Dew Point is the temperature in which condensation
starts to take place or when dew is created.
 Mist / Drizzle
 Mist is a bunch of small droplets of water which are in the
air. This occurs with cold air when it is above a warm surface,
for example water.
 Fog and mist are very similar, the only difference is their
visibility.
 If you cannot see 1 kilometer or less you know you're dealing
with fog.
 You can see visuals through mist and it is more haze looking
than a thicker substance.

Diameter range between 0.1

and 0.5 mm/hr
Formation of precipitation
• Convective • Convergence
system resulting caused by
from unequal Orographic
Radiative barriers
heating and
cooling
Large of earth
scale
surface and
cooling Saturation
atmosphere
needed

 Moisture is always present

• Formation of
precipitation in the atmosphere, even on
the cloudless day.
 Saturation however does
not necessarily lead to
precipitation.
Necessary mechanism to form Precipitation

1. Lifting mechanism to cool the air

2. Formation of cloud elements

(Droplets/Ice crystals)

3. Growth of cloud elements

4. Sufficient accumulation of cloud elements

Formation of cloud elements
(Droplets/Ice crystals)
 For droplets, hygroscopic nuclei ,small particles
(0.1-10µm) having affinity for water must be
available in upper troposphere.
 For ice crystals, Freezing Nuclei are required

 Source of condensation nuclei are particles of sea

salts, products of sulphurous and nitric acid
 Source of freezing nuclei are clay minerals, usually
kaolin, silver iodide etc
Growth of cloud elements
For occurrence of precipitation over an area it is necessary that cloud
elements must be grown in size to over come
 Coalescence of cloud droplets
Cloud droplets are usually smaller than 50µm in diameter, due to different
diameters of droplets they fall with varying fall velocities. As the bigger cloud
elements are heavier , having more fall velocity, hence they collide with smaller
droplets. Smaller droplets join the bigger droplets and in this way the size of
cloud droplets increases.
 Co-existence of cloud droplets & ice crystals
If in a layer of clouds there is mixture of water droplets and ice crystals. As the
saturation vapour pressure over ice is lesser than over water. As a result of this
difference , there results evaporation of water drops and condensation of much
of this water on ice crystals. Causing their growth and ultimate fall through
clouds. The ice crystals will further grow as they fall and collide with water
drops.
Growth of droplets and ice crystals
For the occurrence of precipitation over an area
necessary conditions are :

 Cloud elements must increase in size until their falling

speeds exceed the ascending rate of air

 Cloud elements should be large enough in size not to

get evaporated completely before reaching the ground
Measurement of Precipitation

 1. Amount of precipitation

 2. Intensity of precipitation

 3. Duration of precipitation

 4. Arial extent of precipitation

 Measurement Methods
 Measurement of precipitation (Rain and Snow) can be
done by various devices. These measuring devices and
techniques are;

 Rain Gauges
 Snow Gauges
 Radars
 Satellites
 Scratching of snow packs
 Water equivalent in snow packs
 RAIN GAGES
 Rain gages are most commonly used for the
measurement of precipitation, both in terms of rain
fall and snow.
Types of rain gages
 There are two main types of rain gages which are used
to measure the precipitation. These are;

 1. Non recording rain gages

 2. Recording rain gages

Non recording rain gauges
 It is a rain gage which does not provide the
distribution of amount of precipitation in a day. It
simply gives the amount of precipitation after 24
hours (daily precipitation).
Recording rain gauges
 These rain gauges are also called integrating rain
gauges since they record cumulative rainfall. In
addition to the total amount of rainfall at a station, it
gives the times of onset and cessation of rains (thereby
gives the duration of rainfall events)
Types of recording Rain gauges
 There are three main types of recording rain gauges

 1. Float type rain gages

 2. Tipping bucket type rain gages

 3. Weighing type rain gages

1. Tipping bucket gauges
A tipping bucket rain gauge is used for
measurement of rainfall. It measures the rainfall
with a least count of 1 mm and gives out one
electrical pulse for every millimeter of rainfall
2. Weighing type gauges
 It consists of a storage bin, which is weighed to record the
mass. It weighs rain or snow which falls into a bucket, set
on a platform with a spring or lever balance. The increasing
weight of the bucket and its contents are recorded on a
chart. The record shows accumulation of precipitation.
3. Float recording gauges
 The rise of float with increasing catch of rainfall is recorded. Some
gauges must be emptied manually while others are emptied
automatically using self starting siphons. In most gauges oil or mercury
is the float and is placed in the receiver, but in some cases the receiver
rests on a bath of oil or 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 may get damaged by rainfall catch freezer
Arithmetic Mean Method
 Arithmetic mean method is used when normal annual
precipitation is within 10% of the gauge for which data
are being reconstructed. This method is least accurate
however.

Where:
Pm = precipitation at the missing location
Pi = precipitation at index station I
N = number of rain gauges
Methods for computing Average
precipitation over an area
There are some widely used methods to compute
average precipitation over an area, but the most
common of these used are:

 Arithmetic mean method

 Theissen polygon method

 Isohytal method
Arithmetic Mean Method
 Arithmetic mean method is used when normal annual
precipitation is within 10% of the gauge for which data
are being reconstructed. This method is least accurate
however.

Where:
Pm = precipitation at the missing location
Pi = precipitation at index station I
N = number of rain gauges
Theissen Polygon Method
 Divide the region (area A)
into sub-regions centred
about each rain gauge;
 Determine the area of each
sub-region (Ai) and
compute sub-region
weightings (Wi) using: Wi
= Ai/A
 Compute total aerial
rainfall using Rainfall
recorded at each station is
given a weight age based
on the area closest to the
station.
Theissen Polygon Method
Consider a catchment area with say, 3
rain gauge stations. Let there be 3
stations outside the catchment,
but in its neighborhood.
Catchment area is drawn to scale
and position of these 6 stations is
plotted on it. Stations are joined so
as to get a network of triangles.
Perpendicular bisectors are drawn
to each of the sides of these
triangles. These bisectors form a
polygon around each station. If
the boundary of catchment cuts
the bisectors, then boundary is
taken as outer limit of polygon.
These bounding polygons are
called Thiessen Polygons. The area
of these polygons is measured with
a planimeter or by grid overlay
 Isohytal Method
 Plot gauge locations
on a map;
 Subjectively
interpolate between
rain amounts
between gauges at a
selected interval;
 Connect points of
equal rain depth to
produce lines of equal
rainfall amounts
(isohyets);
Isohytal Method
Compute aerial rain using Isohyets –
It is a line joining points of equal rainfall
magnitude.
The catchment area is drawn to scale and
the rain gauge stations are marked on it.
The recorded rainfall values for which
aerial average is to determined are
marked at the respective stations.
Neighboring stations outside the
catchment are also considered. Taking
point rainfall values as the guide,
isohyets of different rainfall values are
drawn (similar to drawing contours
based on spot levels.
The area between adjacent isohyets is
measured using a planimeter. If isohyets
go out of the catchment, the catchment
boundary is used as the bounding line.
It is assumed that the average value of
rainfall indicated by two isohyets acts
over the inter isohytal area