At the end of the lesson, students should

be able to:-
list and explain the forms of precipitation
List and explain the rain gauges use to
record the precipitation
Determine the precipitation
 When cloud particles become too
heavy to remain suspended in the air,
they fall to the earth asprecipitation.
Precipitation occurs in a variety of forms:
hail, rain, freezing rain, sleet or snow.
Main source: water vapour derived by
EVAPORATION at the ocean
 It is estimated that only (one quarter)
of total amount of precipation that falls
on the land surface is returned back to
the oceans by direct runoff and
underground flow. The balance is stored
underground as underground water or
returned to the atmosphere through
evaporation and transpiration
 Various forms of precipitation are as
follows:
Rain
Drizzle
Glaze
Snow
Snowflakes
Hail
Sleet
 Rain- Condensed water vapour of atmosphere falling in
the forms of drops from clouds
Drizzle - Light steady fine sprinkle of water droplets of
size of about diameter 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm diameter
Glaze - Drizzle (fine rain drops) come into contact with
cold objects at about freezing point. Water drops freeze
to form an ice coating known as glaze and freezing rain
Snow - Precipitation that reaches the ground in form of
ice crystals
Snowflakes Bigger particles of snow formed by
combination of snow crystals in atmosphere and fall as
heavy masses. They may reach several centimeters in
diameter.
 Hail- Precipitation in the form of ball of
ice produced in convective clouds.
Sleet Precipitation consisting of
generally transparent frozen or partially
frozen raindrops.
 Depends on prevailing meteorological
conditions in a particular area:
Frozen
Precipitation
Liquid Snow
Precipitation Glaze
Rain Sleet
Drizzle Freezing
rain
The precipitation is often classified
according to the factor responsible for
lifting of air to higher altitudes. Following
are the various types of precipitation based
on this classification.
Orographic precipitation
Convective precipitation
Cyclonic precipitation
 Orographic precipitation-when warm moist air
moving across the ocean is forced to rise by large
mountains. As the air rises, it cools. Why? A higher
elevation results in cooler temperatures.
Cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air.
As air cools, the water vapour in the air condenses
and water droplets form. Clouds forms and
precipitation (rain or snow) occurs on the windward
side of the mountain. The air is now dry and rises over
top the mountain. As the air moves back down the
mountain , it collects moisture from the ground via
evaporation.This side of the mountain is called the
leeward side. It receives very little precipitation.
 Moist air moving near the surface
encounters a mountain chain. The air is
forced to rise. As the moist air reaches the
LCL (lifting condensation level), water vapor
contained in the air parcels begin to
condense, forming a cloud. The cloud
grows as moisture is continually added to
the cloud. Eventually, there is enough
moisture present to produce rain. The cloud
will continue to produce rain and grow as
long as there is enough moisture present.
 Convectional precipitation results from the
heating of the earths surface. The warm
ground heats the air over it. As the air
warms, the air molecules begin to move
further apart. With increased distance
between molecules, the molecules are less
densely packed. Thus, the air becomes
lighter and rises rapidly into atmosphere.
As the air rises, it cools. Water vapour in the
air condenses into clouds and precipitation.
 Cyclonic or Frontal precipitation results when
the leading edge of a warm, moist air mass
(warm front) meets a cool and dry air mass
(cold front). The molecules in the cold air are
more tightly packed together( more dense)
and thus, the cold air is heavier than the warm
air. The warmer air mass is forced up over the
cool air. As it rises, the warm air cools, the
water vapour in the air condenses, and clouds
and precipitation results.
This type of system is called Frontal
Precipitation because the moisture tends to
occur along the front of the air mass.
Non recording gauges Recording gauge

Weather radar
 Standard recording rain gauge consists
127mm diameter funnel that directs rainfall
to smaller diameter tube (bottle)
Collected rain water poured into a
measuring cylinder and reading is recorded
Only gives the total rainfall between
readings which usually taken once a day
May be sufficient for application that
required only the total rainfall and the
annual distribution of rainfall
 The essentials parts of an ordinary raingauge
are a funnel through which the rain water is
collected in a receiver and a measuring glass
(rain measure) with which the rain water
collected is measured.
There is an additional cylinder in order to avoid
possible lossess due to overflow from the
receiver. The correct type of rain measure
suitable to the type of raingauge in use has to
be used for the measurement of rainfall.
The rain measure is graduated for every 0.2
mm of rainfall
 Most commonly used recording rain gauge
is the weighing rain gauge
Consist galvanized bucket that sits on scale
Rain water collected through a funnel into
the bucket
Rainfall occurs increases the weight in
bucket and mechanical linkage drives an
ink pen across a chart
Chart wrapped around a cylindrical drum
driven by a clock mechanism and give a
plot of accumulated rainfall against the
time
 Used to estimate rainfall
Based on the principle of echo sounding
High frequency electromagnetic waves are
sent out which travel at the speed of light
Extremely small portion of this energy is
reflected by objects in the sky and detected
by radar
By calibration of echo intensity with rainfall
can measure the rainfall density
Use of weather radar together with the rain
gauge data provide useful estimates of rainfall
for areas not covered by rain gauges
 Two types of graphical presentations:-
Rainfall Hyetograph
Rainfall Mass Curve
Rainfall hyetograph rainfall intensity
plotted against time
To show development of design storms
to predict extreme floods
Area under hyetograph represents total
rainfall received in certain time
Rainfall Intensity
(mm/hr)
2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 6 7.6 10 12 13.6 14 16 18 20 22 22.4 24 26 28 28 30
Time (hour)

Figure 2.24 (c) Hytegraph of Rainfall

 Rainfall Mass Curve
Accumulated precipitation graph
plotted against time
Rainfall mass curve used to extract
information regarding rainfall
magnitudes and durations
Rainfall intensities at various time interval
in a particular storm can also be
obtained
 Accumulated rainfall (mm)

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 6 12 18
Time (hours)
Figure 2.23 (a) Mass curve of rainfall
 Missing data may be encountered due
to inoperative gauges
Missing data can be estimated using the
data from the neighboring stations
Two methods used to determine missing
data:-
ARITHMETIC MEAN METHOD vary < 10%
NORMAL RATIO METHOD vary > 10%
ARITHMETIC MEAN METHOD
Averages the rainfall values of the surrounding
gauges are calculated
Applied to missing gauge provided the normal
annual precipitation of the surrounding gauges
is within 10% of the missing gauges
Let P1, P2, P3, , Pm are the annual rainfall
data neighboring M stations 1,2,3..,M
respectively, then the missing annual rainfall
data, Px at station X not included in the M
stations calculated using the following eqn:-
Px = (P1 + P2 + P3 +.+Pm)/M
NORMAL RATIO METHOD
If surrounding gauges have normal annual
precipitation of more than 10% of the normal annual
precipitation at station X, then Px is estimated by
weighing the precipitation at various stations by the
ratio of normal annual precipitation

Px = [Nx(P1 /N1 + P2 /N2 + P3 /N3 +.+Pm /Nm)]/M

Where N1,N2,N3Nm are the normal annual

precipitation at the surrounding M stations and Nx is the
normal precipitation at station X
The normal annual precipitation at stations
P, Q, R and S are 80.97cm, 67.59cm,
76.28cm and 92.01cm.In a certain year, the
data at station S was missing due to a
faulty gauge. Stations P, Q and R recorded
annual precipitations of 91.11cm, 72.23cm
and79.89cm respectively. Determine the
missing data at station S.
SOLUTION
The normal annual rainfall values vary more than 10%
Therefore use the normal ratio method to determine the
missing data at station S
NP = 80.79cm; NQ = 67.59cm; NR = 76.28 cm; NS = 92.01cm
PP = 91.11cm; PQ = 72.23cm; PR = 79.89cm
PS = [NS(PP /NP + PQ /NQ + PR /NR)]/M = 99.41cm
 To determine the mean areal rainfall
Three methods to determine the mean
areal rainfall of a catchment:
ARITHMETIC MEAN METHOD
THIESSEN POLYGON METHOD
ISOHYETAL METHOD
 Arithmetic Mean This technique calculates areal
precipitation using the arithmetic mean of all the point or
areal measurements considered in the analysis.
Isohyetal Analysis- This is a graphical technique which
involves drawing estimated lines of equal rainfall over an
area based on point measurements. The magnitude and
extent of the resultant rainfall areas of coverage are then
considered versus the area in question in order to estimate
the areal precipitation value.
Thiessen Polygon This is another graphical technique
which calculates station weights based on the relative
areas of each measurement station in the Thiessen
polygon network. The individual weights are multiplied by
the station observation and the values are summed to
obtain the areal average precipitation.
 Arithmetic Mean Method
Assumes that each rain gauge represents
the average rainfall that falls around the
gauge within the catchment area
P1, P2 , Pn are the rainfall data in N
stations within the catchment, mean
precipitation, P over the catchment
calculated using arithmetic mean method

P = (P1 + P2 +.+Pn)/N
 Thiessen Polygon Method
Provides weighing factor for each rain gauge in
the catchment area
Gauge stations are plotted on a map and
straight lines are drawn to join all the stations
Perpendicular bisectors of these lines form
polygons around each station
Area polygon, A determine and express as a
percentage of the total area
Weighted average rainfall for the whole area is
determined by multiplying the rainfall measured
at each station by its percentage of area
P = (P1 A1 + P2 A2 +..+ Pn An)/(A1+ A2 +..+An)
 Isohyetal Method
The most accurate method used to calculate mean
areal precipitation
Amount of rainfall measured at each station of
recorded for each station on a map
Contours of equal precipitation isohyets
Areas between two adjacent isohyets are
determined before computing the mean rainfall for
the catchment
Mean rainfall value weighing the average
precipitation between successive isohyets with the
area factor between the isohyets then sum all
Compute the mean areal precipitation for the
following data using the arithmetic mean
method and Thiessen polygon method.
SOLUTION EXAMPLE 2.2
Using arithmetic mean method;
P = (P1 + P2 + P3+P4)/N = 30.5mm
Using Thiessen Polygon method;
P = (P1 A1 + P2 A2 + P3 A3 + P4 A4 )/(A1+ A2 +A3 +A4)
= (30.8 x 45.0 + 34.6 x 40.0 + 32.0 x 30 + 24.6 x
38)/153
= 30.49mm
The location of six rain gauging stations in or near
the catchment is shown in the figure. The observed
rainfall measured at these stations are given in the
table below together with the Thiessen weighing
factors. Determine the mean areal precipitation of
the catchment using the Thiessen polygon method.
Mean areal precipitation using Thiessen polygon method is 38.5mm
The isohyets due to the storm in a
catchment is shown in the figure and the
area bounded by the isohyets are given in
the table below. Determine the mean and
areal precipitation of the catchment using
Isohyetal Method.
The isohyets of a particular catchment area together
with the area between two isohyets are given in the
table below. Compute the mean areal precipitation
using the Isohyetal method.
Therefore,
The mean areal precipitation = 211893/1347
= 157.3cm