Week 07 · Precipitation

Monday

What falls from the clouds

// Rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain and hail

⏱ about 20 min

Monday: What Falls From the Clouds

Rain drums on the roof of the lab all morning. Rocket races up to Station Rooftop the moment it stops.

"The jar is nearly full!" he shouts down the stairs. "That has to be a record."

Raven follows with the weather log and holds the jar up to the light. "What do you notice about the water?"

Rocket looks closer. Tiny pieces of ice are still bobbing near the top.

"So it was not only rain," he says slowly. "Something frozen fell too."

Nova drifts over the jar and scans it with a soft blue beam. "Clouds can release water in more than one form," she says. "Your log should say which ones."

Raven uncaps her pen. "Then this week we learn them all."

Rocket holds up a rain jar with ice pellets floating in it. Raven writes in the weather log beside him. Nova, the crew's drone, hovers above them on the wet rooftop.

Precipitation

Precipitation is water released from clouds. It can fall as rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow or hail.

All five kinds start the same way: as cloud droplets or ice crystals that grow heavy enough to fall.

What reaches the ground depends on the air the drops fall through. Cold air near the ground changes rain into ice.

This week you will learn how each kind forms and measure rain with your own gauge. Then you will compare your numbers with a real report.

Kind	What it is
Rain	Liquid drops large enough to fall
Snow	Branched ice crystals, mostly six-pointed stars
Sleet	Rain that turns into ice pellets before reaching the ground
Freezing rain	Rain that freezes when it hits the ground
Hail	Balls or lumps of ice that grow inside a thunderstorm

NAME THAT PRECIPITATION

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Which kind is rain that freezes only after it lands?

Which kind is rain that turns into ice pellets on the way down?

Which kind grows inside a thunderstorm?

Which word covers all five kinds?

From droplet to drop

A cloud droplet is far too small to fall on its own. It needs to grow first.

Tiny water droplets condense on even tinier particles of dust, salt or smoke.

Millions of cloud droplets are needed to make a single raindrop.

A drop falls out of the cloud when it falls faster than the rising air inside the cloud can hold it up.

Statement	True or false?
Precipitation can be liquid or frozen.	?
One cloud droplet is big enough to fall as a raindrop.	?
Cloud droplets condense on tiny particles such as dust or salt.	?
Snow crystals are mostly six-pointed stars.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEKnowing that drops must grow first explains why some clouds never rain.

Water released from clouds in any form is called ____.

Rain that turns into ice pellets before it lands is ____.

About how many cloud droplets make one raindrop: millions or dozens?

Try it

Look at the sky right now from a window. If anything is falling, decide which of the five kinds it is.
Write it in your weather log with the time. If nothing is falling, write "none" and the cloud cover instead.

For a grown-up

This week your student builds a jar rain gauge. Later they compare it with the rainfall reported by the nearest National Weather Service office.
Readings are always taken after the rain ends, never during a storm.

Draw the five kinds of precipitation falling from one cloud. Label each one and note whether it is liquid or frozen when it lands.

Think of the last time something fell from the sky where you live. Which kind was it, and how could you tell?Look at your log so far. On how many days did any precipitation fall? Which kind was most common?

Good start. Tomorrow you follow a drop on its way down and see how the air decides what it becomes.

Grown-up checked my answers

Tuesday →