|
Graupel
Graupel (; ), also called soft hail, hominy snow, or snow pellets, is precipitation that forms when supercooled water droplets in air are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming balls of crisp, opaque rime. Graupel is distinct from hail and ice pellets, in regards to their formation and appearance. However, both hail and graupel are common in thunderstorms with cumulonimbus clouds, though graupel also falls in winter storms, and at higher elevations as well. The METAR code for graupel is GS. Formation Under some atmospheric conditions, snow crystals may encounter supercooled water droplets. These droplets, which have a diameter of about on average, can exist in the liquid state at temperatures as low as , far below the normal freezing point as long as above the homogeneous nucleation point of water. Contact between a snow crystal and the supercooled droplets results in freezing of the liquid droplets onto the surface of the crystal. This process of crystal g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graupel Falling
Graupel (; ), also called soft hail, hominy snow, or snow pellets, is precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that forms when Supercooling, supercooled water droplets in air are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming balls of crisp, opaque Hard rime, rime. Graupel is distinct from hail and ice pellets, in regards to their formation and appearance. However, both hail and graupel are common in thunderstorms with Cumulonimbus cloud, cumulonimbus clouds, though graupel also falls in winter storms, and at higher elevations as well. The METAR code for graupel is GS. Formation Under some Atmosphere, atmospheric conditions, snow crystals may encounter Supercooling, supercooled water droplets. These droplets, which have a diameter of about on average, can exist in the liquid State of matter, state at temperatures as low as , far below the normal freezing point as long as above the homogeneous nucleation point of water. Contact between a snow crystal and the supercoole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Rime
Rime ice forms when supercooled water liquid droplets freeze onto surfaces. Meteorologists distinguish between three basic types of ice forming on vertical and horizontal surfaces by deposition of supercooled water droplets. There are also intermediate formations. *Soft rime is less dense than hard rime and is milky and crystalline, like sugar. Soft rime appears similar to hoar frost. *Hard rime is somewhat less milky, especially if it is not heavy. *Clear ice is transparent and homogeneous and resembles ice-cube ice in appearance. Its amorphousWikipedia:_Citing_sources.html" "title="nowiki/>Wikipedia: Citing sources">citation needed], dense structure helps it cling tenaciously to any surface on which it forms. Both rime types are less dense than clear ice and cling less tenaciously, therefore damage due to rime is generally minor compared to clear ice. Glaze ice is similar in appearance to clear ice but it is the result of a completely different process, occurring during freezi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor (reaching 100% relative humidity), so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but colloids, because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers. Moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snowflake
A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 100–107.Hobbs, P.V. 1974. Ice Physics. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Each flake nucleates around a dust particle in supersaturated air masses by attracting Supercooling, supercooled cloud water droplets, which freezing, freeze and accrete in crystal form. Complex shapes Emergence, emerge as the flake moves through differing temperature and humidity zones in the atmosphere, such that individual snowflakes differ in detail from one another, but may be categorized in eight broad classifications and at least 80 individual variants. The main constituent shapes for ice crystals, from which combinations may occur, are needle, column, plate, and rime. Snow appears white in color despite being made of clear ice. This is due to diffuse reflection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fall in cold weather, while hail growth is greatly inhibited during low surface temperatures. Unlike other forms of water ice precipitation, such as graupel (which is made of rime ice), ice pellets (which are smaller and translucent), and snow (which consists of tiny, delicately crystalline flakes or needles), hailstones usually measure between and in diameter. The METAR reporting code for hail or greater is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel are coded GS. Hail is possible within most thunderstorms (as it is produced by cumulonimbus), as well as within of the parent storm. Hail formation requires environments of strong, upward motion of air within the parent thunderstorm (similar to tornadoes) and lowered heights of the freezing l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wintry Mix
Rain and snow mixed is precipitation composed of a mixture of rain and partially melted snow. Unlike ice pellets, which are hard, and freezing rain, which is fluid until striking an object where it fully freezes, this precipitation is soft and translucent, but it contains some traces of ice crystals from partially fused snowflakes, also called slush. In any one location, it usually occurs briefly as a transition phase from rain to snow or vice versa, but hits the surface before fully transforming. Its METAR code is RASN or SNRA. Terminology This precipitation type is commonly known as sleet in most Commonwealth countries. However, the United States National Weather Service uses the term ''sleet'' to refer to ice pellets instead. In Ithaca, NY, the term Ithacating is used to describe precipitation made of a mix of rain and snow. Formation This precipitation occurs when the temperature in the lowest part of the atmosphere is slightly above the freezing point of water The dept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Storm
A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessarily restricted to the winter season, but may occur in the late autumn and early spring as well. A snowstorm with strong winds and other conditions meeting certain criteria is called a blizzard. Formation Winter storms are formed when moist air rises up into the atmosphere, creating low pressure near the ground and clouds up in the air. The air can also be pushed upwards by hills or large mountains. The upward motion is called lift. The moisture is collected by the wind from large bodies of water, such as a big lake or the ocean. If temperature is below freezing, , near the ground and up in the clouds, precipitation will fall as snow, ice, rain and snow mixed (sleet), ice pellets or even graupel (soft hail). Since cold air can not hold as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cumulonimbus Cloud
Cumulonimbus (from Latin ''cumulus'', "heaped" and ''nimbus'', "rainstorm") is a dense, towering vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. Above the lower portions of the cumulonimbus the water vapor becomes ice crystals, such as snow and graupel, the interaction of which can lead to hail and to lightning formation, respectively. When occurring as a thunderstorm these clouds may be referred to as thunderheads. Cumulonimbus can form alone, in clusters, or along squall lines. These clouds are capable of producing lightning and other dangerous severe weather, such as tornadoes, hazardous winds, and large hailstones. Cumulonimbus progress from overdeveloped cumulus congestus clouds and may further develop as part of a supercell. Cumulonimbus is abbreviated Cb. Appearance Towering cumulonimbus clouds are typically accompanied by smaller cumulus clouds. The cumulonimbus bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Pellets
Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, hard, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are different from graupel ("soft hail") which is made of frosty white opaque rime, and from a mixture of rain and snow which is a slushy liquid or semisolid. Ice pellets often bounce when they hit the ground or other solid objects, and make a higher-pitched "tap" when striking objects like jackets, windshields, and dried leaves, compared to the dull splat of liquid raindrops. Pellets generally do not freeze into other solid masses unless mixed with freezing rain. The METAR code for ice pellets is PL (PE before November 1998). Terminology Ice pellets are known as sleet in the United States, the official term used by the U.S. National Weather Service. However, the term sleet refers to a mixture of rain and snow in most Commonwealth countries instead, including Canada. Because of this, Environment Canada never uses the term ''sleet'', and uses the terms "ice pellets" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accretion (atmosphere)
Accretion is defined as the gradual collection of something over time. In meteorology or atmospheric science it is the process of accumulation of frozen water as precipitation over time as it descends through the atmosphere, in particular when an ice crystal or snowflake hits a supercooled liquid droplet, which then freeze together, increasing the size of the water particle. The collection of these particles eventually forms snow or hail in clouds and depending on lower atmosphere temperatures may become rain, sleet, or graupel. Accretion is the basis for cloud formation and can also be seen as water accumulates on the particulate matter and form jet contrails. This is because water vapor in the air requires condensation nuclei Cloud condensation nuclei (CCNs), also known as cloud seeds, are small particles typically 0.2 µm, or one hundredth the size of a cloud droplet. CCNs are a unique subset of aerosols in the atmosphere on which water vapour condenses. This ca ... to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Depth Of Field
The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera. Factors affecting depth of field For cameras that can only focus on one object distance at a time, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus. "Acceptably sharp focus" is defined using a property called the "circle of confusion". The depth of field can be determined by focal length, distance to subject, the acceptable circle of confusion size, and aperture. Limitations of depth of field can sometimes be overcome with various techniques and equipment. The approximate depth of field can be given by: : \text \approx \frac for a given circle of confusion (c), focal length (f), f-number (N), and distance to subject (u). As distance or the size of the acceptable circle of confusion increases, the depth of field increases; however, increasing the size of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_in_Elko%2C_Nevada.JPG "Click for more on -> Graupel")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Snowflake")
