Precipitation Types

Precipitation Types

In meteorology, rainfall types can include the character or phase of the precipitation which is falling to ground level. There are three distinct ways that rain can occur. These methods include orographic rainfall. Convective precipitation is generally more intense, and of shorter duration, than stratiform precipitation. Precipitation can also fall in two phases, either liquid or solid. Liquid forms of precipitation include rain and drizzle. Rain or drizzle which freezes on contact within a subfreezing air mass gains the preceding word of freezing, becoming known as freezing rain or freezing drizzle. Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice needles, sleet, hail, and graupel. Intensity is determined either by rate of fall, or by visibility restriction.