The Water Cycle, Clouds,
and Weather
Precipitation
Rain
Rain are drops of water from clouds that are larger than 0.02 inches. Smaller drops are still considered raindrops, though they are usually larger.The water droplets are spread out
Ice Crystals
Ice crystals usually appear in very cold areas. They are small crytals of ice shaped as needles, plates, or columns. This can also be called "diamond dust".
Snow Pellets
These are small snow crystals.. They are also called small hail. Their diameter is less than 1/4 inches thick.
Sleet
Sleet is small pieces of ice. They can be either round or irregularly shaped These are either frozen raindrops or melted and refrozen snow.
Drizzle
Drizzle is similar to rain, though it has differences. It is composed of small water droplets that are very close together. unlike fog, drizzle falls to the ground, though they often occur together.
Hail
Hail is small balls of ice that are 1/4 inch or larger in diameter. If a storm becomes severe enough, hail can become larger than 1 inch in diameter. Hail can also be lumped together.
Snow Grains
Snow grains are very small grains of ice. Thes are smaller than snow pellets. This is basically frozen drizzle.
Snow
Snow is white. Snow crystals are usually in the shape of six pointed stars. now occurs in cold temperatures.