Learn More About Precipitation and Rain Gauges

Precipitation: can be a light mist, monsoon rain, a hailstorm, snow, or sleet. Precipitation is any form of water that falls from clouds to the ground.

All precipitation comes from clouds but not all clouds make rain or snow. Environmental conditions have to be just right, the clouds deep enough, the air saturated enough with water vapor, and particulates present in the air for the moisture to cling to. When conditions are right, precipitation falls as one of four very general types.

Drizzle: Stratus clouds are shallow and not very active. The droplets stratus clouds release are small and the lack of air turbulence allows them to remain separate until they reach the ground.

Rain: When turbulent weather causes water droplets to combine into larger drops as they fall, they are referred to as rain. Rainfall is generally classified as light, moderate, or heavy. Rain originates in thicker clouds, often nimbostratus or cumulonimbus.

Freezing Drizzle or Rain: Sometimes falling droplets are supercooled when they fall from a relatively warm layer of air to a sub zero layer of air near the ground. Drops freeze instantly when they contact cold surfaces and the result is a layer of ice coating on each twig and branch and roadway.

Snow and Hail: In snow and hail, precipitation moisture is frozen solid. When moisture falling from a cloud passes through a layer of sub zero air it produces ice pellets or sleet. When those pellets are lifted back up into the cold layer by thermal updrafts, they combine and freeze with additional moisture repeating the process until they are too heavy to be held by the updraft. These enlarged ice pellets fall as hail. Snow occurs when water vapor within clouds turns directly to ice crystals. The ice crystals form together depending upon the their temperature and concentration and become one of the six sided plates, stars, columns, or needle shapes that configure snowflakes.

There is no life without water. Yet economic forecasters say our supply of water will become inadequate as the world's population continues to grow. A rain gauge tells you what your share of this precious commodity will be when you need it most.

If you live in the country, you'll know the kind of demands to make on your well or, when to mow the fields. If you live in the city, bragging rights belong to you..."it rained 2.7" here in one night!" ...rain gauges can tell you to a hundredth of an inch how much rain or snow has fallen.