Geography 38 - Daily Class Notes - UPSC Sankalp Hinglish

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DAILY
CLASS NOTES
Geography
Lecture – 38
Rainfall &
Precipitation
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Rainfall & Precipitation

Types of Clouds (Based on Height):
1. High Clouds: Mainly Cirrus (Ci) clouds of the feathery form (at 20 - 40,000 feet above ground).
 Cirrus (Ci): This looks fibrous and
appears like wisps in the blue sky.
 Cirrocumulus (Cc): This appears as
white (like a cotton ball with a flat base)
globular masses, forming ripples in a
‘mackerel sky’.
 Cirrostratus (Cs): This resembles a thin
white sheet or veil; the sky looks milky
and the sun or moon shines through it with
a characteristic ' halo'.
2. Medium Clouds: Mainly Alto ( Alt ) or middle-height clouds (at 7- 20,000 feet).
 Altocumulus ( Alt-Cu): These are woolly, bumpy clouds arranged in layers and appearing like waves in
the blue sky. They normally indicate fine weather.
 Altostratus (Alt-St): These are denser, greyish clouds with a ‘watery’ look. They have a fibrous or striated
structure through which the sun's rays shine faintly.
3. Low Clouds: Mainly Stratus or Sheet Clouds.
 Stratocumulus (St- Cu ): This is a rough, bumpy cloud with waves more pronounced than in altocumulus.
There is a great contrast between the bright and shaded
parts.
 Stratus (St): This is a very low cloud, uniformly grey
and thick, which appears like a low ceiling or highland
fog. It brings dull weather with light drizzle. It reduces
the visibility of aircraft and is thus a danger.
 Nimbostratus (Ni-St): This is a dark, dull cloud,
clearly layered, and is also known as a ‘rain cloud '. It
brings continuous rain, snow or sleet.
4. Clouds with Great Vertical Extent: Mainly cumulus or heap clouds with no definite height (2-30.000 feet ).
 Cumulus (Cu): This is a vertical cloud with a rounded top and horizontal base, typical of humid tropical
regions, associated with up-rising convectional currents. Its great white globular masses may look grey
against the sun but it is a ‘fair weather cloud'.
 Cumulonimbus (Cu-Ni): This is, in fact, an overgrown cumulus cloud, extending for a tremendous
vertical height from a base of 2,000 feet to over 30.000 feet. It's black and white globular masses take a
fantastic range of shapes. Its cauliflower top often spreads out like an anvil. This is frequently seen in
tropical afternoons. It is also referred to as a ' thunder-cloud ' and brings convectional rain, accompanied
by lightning and thunder.
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Precipitation:
 The process of continuous condensation in
free air helps the condensed particles to
grow in size. When the resistance of the air
fails to hold them against the force of
gravity, they fall onto the earth’s surface.
 Thus, after the condensation of water
vapour, the release of moisture is known
as precipitation.
 This may take place in liquid or solid
form.
 Precipitation in the form of drops of
water is called rainfall when the drop size
is more than 0.5 mm.
 It is called Virage when raindrops
evaporate before reaching the earth while
passing through dry air.
 Drizzle is light rainfall with a drop size
being less than 0.5 mm, and when
evaporation occurs before reaching the
ground, leading to foggy conditions. It is
referred to as Mist.
 When the temperature is lower than 0° C,
precipitation takes place in the form of fine
flakes of snow and is called Snowfall.
 Moisture is released in the form of
hexagonal crystals. These crystals form
flakes of snow.
 Besides rain and snow, other forms of
precipitation are Sleet and Hail, though the
latter is limited in occurrence and are
sporadic in both time and space.
 Sleet is frozen raindrops and refrozen melted snow water. When a layer of air with a temperature above
freezing point overlies a subfreezing layer near the ground, precipitation takes place in the form of sleet.
 Raindrops, which leave the warmer air, encounter the colder air below. As a result, they solidify and reach
the ground as small pellets of ice not bigger than the raindrops from which they are formed.
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 Sometimes, drops of rain after being

released by the clouds become solidified
into small rounded solid pieces of ice and
reach the surface of the earth. These are
called Hailstones.
 These are formed by the rainwater
passing through the colder layers.
 Hailstones have several concentric
layers of ice one over the other.
Type of Precipitation:
Type of Precipitation Features
Rainfall Drop size more than 0.5 mm up to 5 mm.
Virage Raindrops evaporate before reaching the earth.
Drizzle Light rainfall; drop size less than 0.5 mm.
Mist Evaporation occurs before reaching the ground leading to foggy weather.
Snowfall Fine flakes of snowfall when the temperature is less than 0°C (freezing point).
Sleet Frozen raindrops and refrozen melted snow; a mixture of snow and rain or
merely partially melted snow.
Hail Precipitation in the form of hard rounded pellets is known as hail; 5 mm and
50 mm.
Types of Rainfall:
 On the basis of origin, rainfall may be
classified into three main types –
convectional, orographic or relief, and
cyclonic or frontal.
 Coalescence is the process by which two or
more droplets, bubbles or particles merge
during contact to form a single daughter
droplet, bubble or particle.
1. Convectional Rainfall:
 The air on being heated, becomes light
and rises up in convection currents. As it
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rises, it expands and loses heat and consequently,

condensation takes place and cumulous clouds are formed
(Cumulonimbus).
 This process releases latent heat of condensation which
further heats the air and forces the air to go further up.
 Convectional precipitation is heavy but of short duration,
highly localized, and is associated with a minimum amount
of cloudiness.
 Conditions:
1. Hot ground surface
2. Huge moisture
 It occurs mainly during summer or in the hotter part of the day and is common in the equatorial
regions and interior parts of the continents, particularly in the northern hemisphere.
 Features:
1. Daily rainfall in the afternoon
2. Short duration (quickly)
3. Thick cloud - Cumulonimbus clouds
4. Thunder and lightning
5. Lush green luxurious vegetation- Evergreen forest (Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, Congo )
2. Orographic Rainfall
 When the saturated air mass comes across a mountain, it is forced
to ascend and as it rises, it expands (because of a fall in pressure);
the temperature falls, and the moisture is condensed.
 This type of precipitation occurs when warm, humid air strikes
an orographic barrier (a mountain range) head-on. Because
of the initial momentum, the air is forced to rise.
 As the moisture-laden air gains height, condensation sets in, and
soon saturation is reached. The surplus moisture falls down as
orographic precipitation along the windward slopes.
Conditions:
1. Mountain barrier across the path of winds
2. Sufficient moisture in the winds
3. Sea coast near mountains for the presence of moisture
4. Sufficient height so that air parcel can rise and condense
 The chief characteristic of this type of rain is that the (Cumulonimbus clouds) windward slopes receive
greater rainfall.
 After giving rain on the windward side, when these winds reach the other slope, they descend, and their
temperature rises.
 Then their capacity to take in moisture increases and hence, these leeward slopes remain rainless and dry.
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 The area situated on the leeward side, which gets less rainfall is known as the (Nimbostratus clouds) Rain-
shadow area (Some arid and semi-arid regions are a direct consequence of the rain-shadow effect.
 It is also known as the relief rain.
 Features:
1. Coastal region - more rainfall
2. Windward side- Cumulus clouds more rainfall, leeward side stratus clouds less rainfall
3. Foothills- more rainfall, plains low rainfall
4. Any season - Northwest monsoon in winter, southwest monsoon in summer
 Example: Patagonian desert in Argentina, Eastern slopes of Western Ghats).
 Example: Mahabaleshwar, situated on the Western Ghats, receives more than 600 cm of rainfall, whereas
Pune, lying in the rain shadow area, has only about 70 cm.
3. Frontal Precipitation:
 When two air masses, due to contrasting
temperatures and densities clash with each other,
condensation and precipitation occur at the surface
of contact. This surface of contact is called a
‘front’ or ‘frontal surface’.
 Conditions: Presence of airmass, existence of
fronts.
 For instance, in north-west Europe, cold continental
air and warm oceanic air converge to produce heavy rainfall in adjacent areas.
 If a cold air mass drives out a warm air mass’ it is called a ‘cold front’ and if a warm air mass replaces
the retreating cold air mass, it is called a ‘warm front’.
 If the two air masses are drawn simultaneously towards a low-pressure area, the front developed is
stationary and is called a ‘stationary front’.
 Cold front causes intense precipitation in comparatively small areas, while the precipitation due to
a warm front is less intense but is spread over a comparatively larger area.
 Cold fronts move faster than warm fronts and usually overtake them, the frontal surfaces of cold and
warm air sliding against each other. This phenomenon is called ‘occlusion’ and the resulting frontal
surface is called an ‘occluded front’.
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1

Rainfall & Precipitation

 Sometimes, drops of rain after being

Type of Precipitation Features

Rainfall Drop size more than 0.5 mm up to 5 mm.

Virage Raindrops evaporate before reaching the earth.

Drizzle Light rainfall; drop size less than 0.5 mm.

rises, it expands and loses heat and consequently,

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