Percipitation levels (measured in milimeters) of New York shown at a

Local Scale

A map of New York shown at a local scale with the average amount of precipitation (measured in milimeters) recevied in a year.

This is a map of New York shown at a local scale which exemplifies the average amount
of precipitation and rainfallmeasured in millimetersthat occurs each year. According to the
legend, the warmer colors, such as the reds, oranges, and yellows, indicate less rainfall whereas
the gradually cooler colors that lean more towards green and blue indicate that the shaded areas
sustain more rainfall and precipitation. A noticeable pattern that is shown here on the map of
New York is that there is more rainfall occurring at the coastal lines near the oceans rather than
in the inland areas. Two cooler colors are shown at the local scale of the map, which are green
and blue. The shaded green areas indicate that these inland areas receive an average of 600-1000
millimeters of rainfall each year. However, the shaded light blue areas indicate that the coastal
areas receive an average of at least 1000-1500 millimeters of rainfall each year. These areas that
are only shown here on the map include the Providence area, New York area, and Philadelphia
area. Coastal areas are more prone to receiving additional rainfall compared to inland areas due
to several factors. As warm air rises and expands, it gets colder and takes a form of a cloud.
When the warm air is cooled down, its ability to hold and retain the air inside decreases and
when it finally reaches the point in which it reaches it maximum holding capacity, additional
cooling will then cause the warm air to change into a more soluble, liquid formwater.

Subsequently, when winds are blown over the ocean, specifically areas with warmer waters
toward coastal areas, these areas experience more rainfall in comparison to areas where winds
are blown from internal areas out toward the oceans.

Citations:
"Rain: Distribution." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/weather/rain-distribution-rainfall.html>.
Rosenburg, Matt. "Find Out About the ITCZ, the Wettest Part of the Planet." About.com
Education. GeographyAbout.com, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
<http://geography.about.com/od/climate/a/itcz.htm>.
Site Utilized for map: http://mapmaker.education.nationalgeographic.com/#/

Precipitation levels (measured in millimeters) of New York shown at a

Regional Scale

A map of New York shown at a regional scale with the average amount of precipitation received in a year.

Precipitation and Rainfall happen at a larger rate when closer to the shore, and decreases
when you get more into the inland area. The rainfall near the shore and southern part of the
eastern coast of the U.S. grows larger than when you move towards the northern inland part of
New York. The rainfall and precipitation are coming from the southern part of the East Coast
and move up the coastal side of Virginia, Washington D.C., New York, Connecticut, Etc. Rain is
precipitation that falls to the surface of the Earth as water droplets. Raindrops form around
microscopic cloud condensation nuclei, such as a particle of dust or a molecule of pollution. Rain
that falls from clouds but freezes before it reaches the ground is called sleet or ice pellets. Most
of the condensed water in clouds does not fall as precipitation because their fall speed is not large
enough to overcome updrafts which support the clouds. For precipitation to happen, first tiny
water droplets must condense on even tinier dust, salt, or smoke particles, which act as a nucleus.
Citations:
"Precipitation." National Geographical. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
<http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/precipitation/>.

Precipitation levels (measured in millimeters) of New York shown at a

Global Scale

A map of New York shown at a global scale with the average amount of percipitation received in a year.

From the map we see that the eastern half of North America has higher precipitation
levels than the western side. The eastern half has precipitation levels of about 600-1500 while the
western side shows mostly 100-600. The east is influenced by the tropical climates and warmer
oceans. This leads to higher levels of precipitation and moisture. This moisture affects the
continent along the eastern coast the most, as it has the most contact with the ocean currents. The
west on the other hand is a lot dryer mostly due to the colder ocean currents as well as the overall
dryer climates of the areas. We can see that the colder ocean currents affect not only western
North America, but parts of Russia and Asia that touch the Pacific Ocean as well. This tells us
that even though different areas touching the Pacific may be desert or ice, they are all affected by
the ocean currents to have less precipitation. In other words, the eastern half of North America

has more rain than the western side. Higher levels of precipitation mean that there is more
drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, hail, etc. in the area. Essentially, it is when the atmosphere builds up too
much water causing it to condense and fall.
Citations:
"Precipitation." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitation>.