Types of Precipitation
This type of precipitation falls as liquid water drops.
Rain
The sun heats up water and turns it into vapor in this process.
Evaporation
These are fluffy, white clouds that look like cotton balls and usually mean fair weather.
Cumulus clouds
Hot and dry with very little rain.
Desert
This type of precipitation is frozen water crystals that fall in flakes.
Snow
Water vapor cools and turns into liquid water to form clouds.
Condensation
These thin, wispy clouds form high in the sky and are made of ice crystals
Cirrus clouds
Warm temperatures and lots of rain all year
Rain forest
This precipitation starts as rain but freezes into tiny ice pellets before hitting the ground.
Sleet
When water falls from clouds as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Precipitation
These tall, dark clouds can bring thunderstorms, lightning, and hail.
Cumulonimbus clouds
Cold and dry with little precipitation
This type of frozen precipitation forms in layers during strong thunderstorms.
Hail
After rain falls, water flows over land back into rivers, lakes, or oceans.
Runoff
These clouds are the highest in the sky.
Cirrus clouds
Warm or hot and very wet because of standing water and high humidity.
Swamp
All of these—rain, snow, sleet, and hail—are examples of this.
Precipitation
The water cycle is never-ending, meaning it is this kind of system.
Cycle
Clouds that form a thin layer and looks like a blanket (you fly over these on an airplane)
Stratus clouds
Can be hot in summer and cold in winter, with moderate rain for grasses but few trees.
Grassland