Water Cycle

• Precipitation

• Evaporation

• Condensation

Precipitation

Any type of solid or liquid water that falls from the atmosphere and reaches to the ground.

Types of Precipitation

• Rain

• Freezing Rain

• Sleet

• Snow

• Hail

Rain

water droplets in the clouds join together to form larger drops

Freezing Rain

• When the air is warm enough for the rain to fall as a liquid, but the surface of the earth is below freezing.

• The raindrops freeze as they hit the earth.

• This forms an icy glaze.

Sleet

• occurs when raindrops fall through the air that is below freezing

• These drops freeze on their way to the earth and land as ice pellets

Snow

• Forms when ice crystals in the clouds join together and fall to the earth

• The air must be at or below freezing for snow to fall

Hail

• Usually falls when weather is warm on the ground

• Hail is formed in a cycle of warmer air rising and ice pellets forming and dropping.

Dew and Frost

Humidity

Dew and Frost

• Dew and frost from from water vapor in the air

• Dew: when water vapor condenses on surfaces

• Frost: ice that forms without becoming a liquid first

Humidity Video

https://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/humidity/

Humidity

• water vapor in the atmosphere

• temperature and air pressure influence the amount of humidity that the air can hold at any given time

Relative Humidity

• the actual amount of water vapor in the air compared with the amount that the air could hold at that temperature

• Warmer air can hold more water vapor than colder air