(628)-272-0788 info@etutorworld.com
Select Page

Types Of Precipitation Worksheets (Definition, Types, and Examples)

Grade 5 Science Worksheets

Precipitation is the release of water from the sky to the ground. It is an important part of the water cycle. We know that the atmosphere contains water vapor. When this water vapor falls back on the earth in the form of liquid or frozen forms of water like rain, sleet, and snow, it is known as precipitation. Precipitation occurs when the air becomes saturated with water vapor and can no longer maintain the water vapor level in gaseous form. The temperature between the cloud bottom and the ground determines the type of precipitation.

Schedule a Free session to clear worksheet doubts

No credit card required, no obligation to purchase.
Just schedule a FREE Sessions to meet a tutor and get help on any topic you want!

HOW DOES WATER REACH THE SKY?

  1. Evaporation – Under typical atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by the evaporation of liquid water from oceans, rivers, lakes, and ponds. Precipitation is always fresh water even if water originates from the ocean as sea salts do not evaporate with water!
  2. Transpiration – The process by which plants release water from their aerial parts like leaves in the form of water vapor is known as transpiration. It is one of the major contributors to water vapor in the atmosphere.
  3. Sublimation – Sublimation is a process by which solids like ice are directly converted into a gaseous state like water vapor. Hence, snow and ice in cold regions and high altitudes also contribute to the water vapor in the atmosphere by the process of sublimation.

 

Image showing evaporation as the sun heats up the ocean.
Image showing how water precipitates from leaves.

Types of Precipitation

Liquid forms of precipitation include rain, drizzle, and dew. Frozen forms of precipitation include snow, ice crystals, ice pellets, hail, and graupel. When they freeze on contact within a subfreezing air mass, it is termed as freezing rains.

1.  RAINS 

When water vapor in the atmosphere rises and cools, it changes into tiny droplets of water that form clouds. When the water droplets come closer, they become large and heavy that falls down under the influence of gravity as liquid water. This results in rains. Rains are an important component of the water cycle that replenishes most of the freshwater on Earth. Heavy rainfall may cause floods, landslides, and damage to agriculture and infrastructure.

Learn more about Types Of Precipitation and other important topics with 5th Grade Science Tutoring at eTutorWorld. Our expert science tutors break down the topics through interactive one-to-one sessions. We also offer the advantage of customized lesson plans, flexible schedules and convenience of learning from home.

eTutorWorld Understands Math Tutoring | Online Math Worksheets are Important Tools

Understanding graphs, charts, and opinion polls in a newspaper, for calculating house and car payments, and for choosing a long-distance telephone service are impossible without strong math skills …and the only way to develop strong math skills is by constant practice.

‘Practice makes a man perfect’ holds true for no other field better than for math. A middle or high school student must set aside a minimum of an hour for math every day. Other than textbooks, worksheets help you revise and understand concepts better.

Our expert tutors prepare online maths worksheets that are age and grade-appropriate. Grade-wise math worksheets for Elementary Math, Arithmetic, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Statistics, Pre-Calculus and Calculus can be solved to improve math skills, to get ahead or to even catch up.

You may download these FREE online math worksheets in the PDF format, and then print and email us their solutions for a free evaluation and analysis by eTutorworld’smath expert tutors.

You may solve these worksheets by yourself or with your peers while studying together.

The Answer Key at the end of each worksheet allows for a self-evaluation.

Personalized Online Tutoring

eTutorWorld offers affordable one-on-one live tutoring over the web for Grades K-12, Test Prep help for Standardized tests like SCAT, CogAT, MAP, SSAT, SAT, ACT, ISEE and AP. You may schedule online tutoring lessons at your personal scheduled times, all with a Money-Back Guarantee. The first one-on-one online tutoring lesson is always FREE, no purchase obligation, no credit card required.

For answers/solutions to any question or to learn concepts, take a FREE CLASS.

No credit card required, no obligation to purchase.
Just book a free class to meet a tutor and get help on any topic you want!

2. DRIZZLE 

Drizzle is light liquid precipitation consisting of water drops smaller than those of rain. They are small and light and appear to float while being carried by air currents. They are associated with clouds, which are close to the ground and form what looks like a blanket in the sky.

3. SNOW

It is precipitation in the form of solid, frozen water. It originates in clouds when temperatures are below the freezing point of water. The water vapor in the atmosphere condenses directly into ice without going through the liquid stage.

Once an ice crystal is formed in the cloud, it absorbs and freezes additional water vapor from the surrounding air, growing into a snowflake, which then falls to earth as snow. Snowflakes develop different patterns depending upon the temperature and humidity of air. Hailstones are hard, but snowflakes are soft. When snow falls in the form of a ball instead of soft flakes, it is called graupel.

4. HAIL 

Hail or hailstones are formed when drops of water freeze together in the cold upper regions of thunderstorm clouds. When a frozen droplet begins to fall from a cloud during a storm but is pushed back up into the cloud by a strong updraft of wind, it hits other liquid water droplets and freezes them adding another layer to it. Eventually, the hailstone becomes too heavy and falls down on the Earth. Hailstorms have the potentials to destroy plants, trees, crops, animals, and human life upon impact.

 

Picture of a person holding hail stones in hand

5. SLEET 

Sleet or ice pellets are seen during winter. For sleet to form there must be layer of air near the ground whose temperature is below freezing. Sleet starts as snowflakes, and then melts to form water droplets while passing through warmer air in the sky. But when they pass through the cold air near the ground, it re-freezes into small ice pellets. These ice pellets are small translucent balls composed of frozen raindrops and refrozen melted snowflakes. They are smaller than hail and bounce when they hit the ground.

6. ICE CRYSTALS 

Also known as diamond dust, it is a ground-level cloud similar to fog, composed of tiny ice crystals. It is most commonly observed in very cold places like Antarctica and the Arctic and they fall as crystals of ice in the form of needles, columns, or plates. Diamond dust crystals have well-defined shapes-usually either hexagonal plates or columns which behave like prisms and create halos in the sky by reflecting and refracting sunlight.

7. SNOW GRAINS 

Snow grains are precipitation in the form of small, white, and opaque grains of ice. They are flat or elongated and do not break upon impact on the ground. They fall in some amounts and not in the form of showers.

8. FREEZING RAINS 

Freezing rain is formed when a very shallow layer of cold air at the surface causes the freshly melted raindrops to freeze on contact with exposed objects on the ground which has a temperature below freezing. They can cause major damages to trees, power lines, bridges and overpasses.

Check Point

  1. Water from the oceans and rivers reach the sky by a process called ___________.
  2. Liquid forms of precipitation include _________ and __________.
  3. ___________ are small translucent balls composed of frozen raindrops and refrozen melted snowflakes.
  4. __________ also known as Diamond dust, are usually seen in polar regions and their crystals can create halos in the sky by reflecting and refracting sunlight.
  5. Heavy rainfall may cause _______ and ________.

Answer Key

  1.  Water from the oceans and rivers reach the sky by a process called evaporation.
  2. Liquid forms of precipitation include rains and drizzles.
  3. Sleet or ice pellets are small translucent balls composed of frozen raindrops and refrozen melted snowflakes.
  4. Ice crystals also are known as Diamond dust, are usually seen in polar regions and their crystals can create halos in the sky by reflecting and refracting the sunlight.
  5. Heavy rainfall may cause floods and landslides.

Schedule a Free session to clear worksheet doubts

No credit card required, no obligation to purchase.
Just schedule a FREE Sessions to meet a tutor and get help on any topic you want!

Pricing for Online Tutoring

Tutoring PackageValidityGrade (1-12), College
5 sessions1 Month$139
1 session1 Month$28
10 sessions3 months$269
15 sessions3 months$399
20 sessions4 months$499
50 sessions6 months$1189
100 sessions12 months$2249
What is precipitation?

Precipitation refers to any form of water, liquid or solid, that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface. It includes rain, snow, sleet, hail, and drizzle.

What are the different types of precipitation?

The main types of precipitation are rain, snow, sleet, hail, and drizzle. Each type has its unique characteristics and forms under specific atmospheric conditions.

How does rain form?

Rain is formed when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into water droplets and becomes heavy enough to fall to the ground due to gravity. The droplets merge and become raindrops as they descend.

When does snow occur?

Snow is formed when water vapor in the atmosphere directly crystallizes into ice crystals without first becoming liquid. These ice crystals join together to form snowflakes and fall to the ground when the air is cold enough.

What causes sleet to form?

Sleet occurs when raindrops freeze into ice pellets before reaching the ground. This happens when there is a shallow layer of freezing air near the Earth’s surface, causing the raindrops to solidify.

How is hail formed?

Hail is created in strong thunderstorms with powerful updrafts. Raindrops are carried upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze into ice pellets. The pellets are then cycled through the storm, adding layers of ice, until they become too heavy and fall as hailstones.

Images Credit:

  • https://www.kuzmaclass.org/sandbox2019/NathanMoored/Weather/cycle.html
  • https://www.biologyonline.com/tutorials/plant-water-regulation
  • https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa16/2016/10/21/why-does-rain-make-some-people-happy/
  • https://phys.org/news/2018-12-closer-revolution-electronics.html
  • https://uoficreditunion.org/home/girl-and-snowman/
  • https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/02/28/cancer-broken-symmetry-coffey-pienta-frost/
  • https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/07/hail-storm-in-salem-county-new-jersey.html
  • https://whyfiles.org/2012/what-is-sleet/index.html
  • http://www.thehalovault.org/2009/01/halo-displays-in-czech-mountains-on.html
  • https://www.klcc.org/post/snap-crackle-boom-sound-frozen-trees-bursting-night
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing_rain
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitation_types
Save 10% on ALL Tutoring Packs with Code BLOOM10
0
Days
0
Hours
0
Minutes
0
Seconds
Save 10% with Code BLOOM10
0
Days
0
Hours
0
Minutes
0
Seconds