Precipitation when rain or drizzle comes in contact with cold ground at around 0°C, the water drops

freeze to form an ice coating called glaze of freezing rain.

Precipitation is water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, SLEET
snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the It is frozen raindrops of transparent grains which form when rain falls through air at
delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth. Most precipitation falls as rain. subfreezing temperature.

Precipitation will be formed:

*The atmosphere must have moisture
*There must be sufficient nuclei present to aid condensation
*Weather conditions must be good for condensation of water vapor to take place
*The products of condensation must reach the earth.
Types of Precipitation
RAIN
The term “rain” is used to describe precipitations in the form of water drops of sizes
larger than 0.5mm. The maximum size of raindrop is about 6mm. Any drop larger in size
than this tends to break up into drops of smaller sizes during its fall from the clouds.
On the basis of its intensity rainfall is classified as:
TYPE INTENSITY
HAIL
It is a showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or lumps of ice of size more
than 8mm. Hails occur in violent thunderstorms in which vertical currents are very
strong.
WEATHER SYSTEM FOR PRECIPITATION
FRONT
The interface between two distinct air masses. Under certain of favorable
conditions when warm air mass and cold air mass meet, the warmer air mass is lifted
over the colder one with the formation of a front. The ascending warmer air cools
adiabatically with the consequent formation of clouds and precipitation.
CYCLONE
A cyclone is a large low pressure region with circular wind motion.

TROPICAL CYCLONE
LIGHT RAIN TRACE to 2.5 mm/h  a tropical cyclone, also called cyclone in India, hurricane in USA and typhoon in
South-East Asia, is a wind system with an intensity strong depression with MSL
pressures sometimes below 915mbars.
 The normal areal extent of a cyclone is about 100-200km in diameter.
MODERATE 2.5 mm/h to 7.5 mm/h
RAIN  The isobars are closely spaced and the winds are anticlockwise in the northern
hemisphere.
 The center of the storm, called the eye, which may extend to about 10-50km in
diameter, will be relatively quiet.
HEAVY RAI
N
>7.5 mm/h
 However, right outside the eye, very strong winds/reaching to as much as
200kmph exist.
 The wind speed gradually decreases towards the outer edge.
 The pressure also increases outwards.
SNOW  The rainfall will normally be heavy in the entire area occupied by the cyclone.
Another important form of precipitation. Snow consists of ice crystals which usually
combine to form flakes. When new snow has an initial density varying from 0.06 to 0.15 EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONE
g/cmᵌ and it is usual to assume an average density of 0.1 g/cmᵌ.  These are cyclones formed in locations outside the tropical zone.
DRIZZLE  Associated with a frontal system, they posses a strong counter-clockwise wind
A fine sprinkle of numerous water droplets of size less than 0.5mm and intensity less circulation in the northern hemisphere.
than 1mm/h. In this the drops are so small that they appear to float in the air.  The magnitude of precipitation and wind velocities are relatively lower than those
GLAZE of a tropical cyclone.
 However, the duration of precipitation is usually longer and the areal extent also is  The instrument must be surrounded by an open fenced area of at least 5.5m by
larger. 5.5m. No object should be nearer to the instrument than 30m or twice the height
of the obstruction
ANTICYCLONES COMMONLY USED RECORDING GAUGES
These are regions of high pressure, usually of large areal extent. The weather is  Tipping-Bucket Type
usually calm at the center. Anticyclones cause clockwise wind circulations in the  Weighing-Bucket Type
northern hemisphere. Winds are of moderate speed, and at the outer edges, cloudy  Natural-Syphon Type
and precipitations exist.  TELEMETERING GAUGES

CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION
In this type of precipitation a packet of air which is warmer than the surrounding
air due to localized heating rises because of its lesser density. Air from cooler CATEGORIES OF RAINGAUGE
surroundings flows to take up its place thus setting up a convective cell. The warm air  Non Recording Raingauges
continues to rise, undergoes cooling and results in precipitation. Depending upon the Simons’ Gauge
moisture, thermal and other conditions light showers to thunderstorms can be  It essentially consists of a circular collecting area of
expected in convective precipitation. Usually the areal extent of such rains is small, 12.7cm(5inches) diameter connected to a funnel
being limited to a diameter of about 10km.  Recording Raingauges
 Produce a continuous plot of rainfall against time and provide valuable data
OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION of intensity and duration of rainfall for hydrological analysis of storms
The moist air masses may get lifted-up to higher altitudes due to the presence of  Tipping-Bucket Type
mountain barriers and consequently undergo cooling, condensation and precipitation.  Weighing-Bucket Type
 Natural-Syphon Type (Float-Type Gauge)
MEASUREMENT
Precipitation is expressed in terms of the depth to which rainfall water would stand on  Radar Measurement of Rainfall
an area if all the rain were collected on it.

The precipitation is collected and measured in rain gauge. Terms such as
pluviometer, ombrometer and hyetometer are also sometimes used to designate a rain
gauge.
A rain gauge essentially consists of a cylindrical vessel assembly kept in the open
to collect rain. The rainfall catch of the rain gauge is affected by its exposure conditions.
RAINGAUGE
To enable the catch of raingauge to accurately represent the rainfall in an area
surrounding the raingauge, standard settings are adopted.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR SETTING UP A RAINGAUGE
 The ground must be level and in the open and the instrument must present a
horizontal catch surface
 The gauge must be set as near the ground as possible to reduce wind effects but it
must be sufficiently high to prevent splashing, flooding, etc.
SNOWFALL
 A form of precipitation differs from rainfall in that it may accumulate over a
surface for sometime before it melts and causes runoff.
 Evaporation from the surface of accumulated snow surface is a factor to be
considered in analysis dealing with snow.
 Water equivalent of snowfall is included in the total precipitation amounts of a
situation to prepare seasonal and annual precipitation records.
EVAPORATION PROCESS
Evaporation Process
 The process in which a liquid changes to the gaseous state at the free surface,
below the boiling point through the transfer of heat energy
 It is a cooling process in that the latent heat of vaporization must be provided by
the water body
EVAPORATION IS DEPENDENT ON:
 Vapor Pressure
 Temperature METHODS TO REDUCE EVAPORATION LOSSES
 Wind  Reduction of Surface Area
 Atmospheric Pressure  Mechanical Covers
 Soluble Salts  Chemical Films
 Heat Storage in Water Bodies
REDUCTION OF SURFACE AREA
VAPOUR PRESSURE Since the volume of water lost by evaporation is directly proportional to the surface
The rate of evaporation is proportional to the difference between the saturation vapour area of the water body, the reduction of surface area wherever feasible reduces
pressure at the water temperature and the actual vapour pressure in the air evaporation losses.

TEMPERATURE MECHANICAL COVERS

Evaporation rate increases with an increase in water temperature Permanent roofs over the reservoir, temporary roofs and floating roofs such as rafts and
WIND lightweight floating particles can be adopted wherever feasible.
Winds aid in removing the evaporated water vapour from the zone of evaporation and
consequently creates greater scopes for evaporation CHEMICAL FILMS
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE  This method consists of applying a thin chemical film on the water surface to
A decrease in the barometric pressure, as in high altitudes, increases evaporation reduce evaporation
SOLUBLE SALTS  Certain chemicals such as cetyl alcohol (hexadecanol) and stearyl alcohol
When a solute is dissolved in water, the vapour pressure of the solution is less than that (octadecanol) form monomolecular layers on a water surface
of pure water and hence causes reduction in the rate of evaporation
HEAT STORAGE IN WATER BODIES TRANSPIRATION
Deep water bodies have more heat storage than shallow ones. A deep lake may store
radiation and energy received in summer and release it in winter causing less TRANSPIRATION PROCESS
evaporation in summer and more evaporation in winter compared to a shallow lake  The process by which water leaves the body of a living plant and reaches the
exposed to a similar situation atmosphere as water vapour.
 The water is taken up by the plant-root system and escapes through the leaves
EVAPORIMETERS
 A water-containing pans which are exposed to the atmosphere and the loss of FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSPIRATION
water by evaporation is measured in them at regular intervals  Atmospheric Vapour Pressure
 Meteorological data, such as, humidity, wind movement, air and water  Temperature
temperatures, precipitation are also noted along with evaporation measurement  Wind
 Light Intensity
TYPES OF EVAPORIMETERS  Characteristics of Plants
 Class A Evaporation Pan
 ISI Standard Pan TRANSPIRATION vs EVAPORATION
 Colorado Sunken Pan Transpiration essentially confined to daylight hours and rate of transpiration depends
 US Geological Survey Floating Pan upon the growth periods of plants
Evaporation on the other hand, continuous all through the day and night although the
EVAPORATION STATIONS rates are different
The WMO recommends the minimum network of evaporimeter stations as follow:
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
ARID ZONE – 1 station for every 30 000km^2  Evaporation from water bodies and soil masses together with transpiration from
HUMID TEMPERATE CLIMATE – 1 station for every 50 000km^2 vegetation
COLD REGIONS – 1 station for every 100 000km^2
 The term “Consumptive Used” is also used to denote this loss by
evapotranspiration
 For a given set of atmospheric conditions, evapotranspiration obviously depends
on the availability of water.

POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
 For a given set of atmospheric conditions, evapotranspiration obviously depends
on the availability of water.
 If sufficient moisture is always available to completely meet the needs of
vegetation fully covering the area, the resulting evapotranspiration is called
“Potential Evapotranspiration”

ACTUAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
The real evapotranspiration occurring in a specific situation INFILTRATION
ZONE 1 : At the top, a thin layer of ”Saturated Zone” is created
FIELD CAPACITY ZONE 2 : Beneath zone 1, there is a “Transition Zone”
The maximum quantity of water that the soil can retain against the force of gravity Zone 3 : The next lower zone is the “Transmission Zone” where downward motion of
PERMANENT WILTING POINT the moisture takes place
 The moisture content of a soil at which the moisture is no longer available in Zone 4 : The last zone is the “Wetting Zone” The soil moisture in this zone will be at or
sufficient quantity to sustain the plants. near field capacity and the moisture content decreases with the depth.
 At this stage, even though the soil contains some moisture, it will be so held by the
soil grains that the roots of plant are not able to exract it in sufficient quantities to Infiltration Capacity
sustain the plants and consequently the plants wilt The maximum rate at which the ground can absorb water,
AVAILABLE WATER Field Capacity
 The difference between the field capacity and permanent wilting point The volume of water that ground can hold
 The moisture available for plants
INFILTRATION CAPACITY
MEASUREMENT OF EVAPOTRANSPIRATION  The maximum rate at which a given soil at a given time can absorb water
LYSIMETERS  It is designated as fp and is expressed in units of cm/h.
 A special watertight tank containing a block of soil and set in the field of growing  The actual rate of infiltration f can be expressed as
plants. f = fp when i ≥ fp
 Evapotranspiration is estimated in terms of the amount of water required to f = iwhen i ≤ fp
maintain constant moisture conditions within the tank measured either where i = intensity of rainfall
volumetrically or gravimetrically through an arrangement made in the lysimeter The infiltration capacity of an area is dependent on a large number of factors such as:
FIELD PLOTS
 In s special plots all the elements of the water budget in a known interval of time  Characteristics of the soil (Texture, porosity and hydraulic conductivity)
are measured and the evapotranspiration determined as  Condition of the soil surface
 Evapotranspiration = [Precipitation + Irrigation Input – Run off – Increase in Soil  Current Moisture Content
Storage – Groundwater Loss]  Vegetative Cover
 Soil Temperature
INFILTRATION
FLOODING – TYPE INFILTROMETER
Are experimental devices used to obtain data relating to variation of infiltration capacity
INFILTRATION
with time.
The flow of water into the ground through the soil surface
Simple (Tube Type) Infiltrometer – Simple instrument consisting essentially of a metal
cylinder, 30cm diameter and 60cm long, open at both ends
Double – ring Infiltrometer – Most commonly used infiltrometer and designed to
overcome the basic objection of the tube infiltrometer. Two sets of concentrating rings
with diameters of 30cm and 60cm and a minimum length of 25cm.
INITIAL LOSS
INITIAL LOSS
In the precipitation reaching the surface of a catchment, the major abstraction is from
the infiltration process. However, two other processes, though small in magnitude,
operate to reduce the water volume available for run off and thus act as abstractions.
Interception Process
Depression Storage
Together, they are called “Initial Loss”
This abstraction represents the quantity of storage that must be satisfied before
overland run off begins
INTERCEPTION
When it rains over a catchment, not all the precipitation falls directly onto the ground.
Before it reaches the ground, a part of it may be caught by the vegetation and
subsequently evaporated. The volume of water so caught is called “Interception”
The intercepted precipitation may follow one of the three possible routes:
1. It may be retained by the vegetation as surface storage and returned to the
atmosphere by evaporation; a process termed “INTERCEPTION LOSS”
2. It can drip off the plant leaves to join the ground surface or the surface flow; this
is known as “THROUGHFALL”
3. The rainwater may run along the leaves and branches and down the stem to
reach the ground surface. This part is called “STEMFLOW”
▪ Interception loss is solely due to evaporation and does not include transpiration,
throughfall or stemflow
▪ It is estimated that of the total rainfall in an area during a plant-growing season
the interception loss is about 10%– 20%.
DEPRESSION STORAGE
 When the precipitation of a storm reaches the ground, it must first fill up all
depressions before it can flow over the surface. The volume of water trapped in
these depressions is called “Depression Storage.”
 The amount is eventually lost to runoff through processes of infiltration and
evaporation and thus form a part of the initial loss.
Depression storage depends on a vast number f factors, the chief of which are:
 The type of soil
 The condition of the surface reflecting the amount and nature of depression
 The slope of the catchment
 The antecedent precipitation, as a measure of soil moisture
RUNOFF
Runof is often defined as the portion of rainfall, snowmelt, and/or irrigation water that
runs over the soil surface toward the stream rather than infiltrating into the soil. It is
sometimes called SURFACE RUNOFF
The definition of runoff also includes water which makes its way relatively quickly
to the stream channel just below the surface. This is sometimes called
INTERFLOW OR SUBSURFACE STORM FLOW
And together with surface runoff makes up the volume of water that hydrologists
generally refer to as RUNOFF
▪ The main reason for studying the runoff process is to get an estimate of the
amount of water that makes its way quickly to the stream channel.
▪ Runoff is the most important component of flood prediction and can consist
of either rainwater or water from melting ice and snow
METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING RUNOFF:
- Type of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, etc.)
- Rainfall intensity
- Rainfall amount
- Rainfall duration
- Distribution of rainfall over the drainage basin
- Direction of storm movement
- Precipitation that occurred earlier and resulting soil moisture
- Other meteorological and climatic conditions that affect evapotranspiration, such
as temperature, wind, relative humidity, and season
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AFFECTING RUNOFF:
- Land use
- Vegetation
- Soil type
- Drainage area
- Elevation
- Topography, especially the slope of the land
- Ponds, lakes, reservoirs, sinks, etc. in the basin, which prevent or delay runoff from
continuing downstream
There are THREE PHYSICAL PROCESSES for the movement of soil water:

ENTRY also known as infiltration, occurs at the water-ground surface boundary.
TRANSMISSION is the vertical and horizontal percolation that can occur
throughout the entire depth of the soil layer.
STORAGE can occur throughout the soil profile and is manifested as increased soil
moisture.
▪ Environmental conditions that affect these three processes are broadly broken
down into two major categories:
NATURAL PROCESSES can have a variety of influences, but HUMAN ACTIVITY
typically results in less water entering the soil profile and thus more runoff at the
ground surface.
Runof Processes
 PRECIPITATION may be in the form of rain or snow
 Vegetation may INTERCEPT some fraction of precipitation
 Precipitation that penetrates the vegetation is referred to TROUGHFALL
 Intercepted water is commonly EVAPORATED back to the atmosphere
 there is also flux of water to the atmosphere through the TRANSPIRATION of
vegetation and evaporation from soil and water bodies
 this surface water input may accumulate on the surface in DEPRESSION STORAGE,
 or flow overland towards the streams as OVERLAND FLOW,
 or INFILTRATE into the soil,
 where it may flow laterally towards the stream contributing to INTERFLOW
 infiltrated water may also PERCOLATE through deeper soil,
 the WATER TABLE is the surface is saturated and at the pressure
 greater than atmospheric
 water added to the ground water is referred to as GROUNDWATER RECHARGE
 a region of soil that is close to saturation is referred to as the CAPILLARY FRINGE
 lateral drainage of the ground water into streams is referred to as BASE FLOW
 subsurface water may flow back across the land surface to add to overland flow
this is referred to as RETURN FLOW
RUNOFF GENERATION MECHANISMS
INFILTRATION RATE is the amount of water able to enter the soil in a specified time
period. It is expressed as depth per time; for example, 10 millimetres per hour.
INFILTRATION CAPACITY is the upper limit of infiltration rate. It includes surface
infiltration and percolation and is expressed in depth per time; for example, 15
millimetres per hour.
▪ If precipitation rate is less than or equal to infiltration capacity, no surface runoff
occurs.
▪ If precipitation rate is greater than infiltration capacity, surface runoff occurs.
▪ Surface runoff equals rainfall or snowmelt rate minus infiltration capacity.
For example, if our rainfall rate increases to 25 millimetres per hour but the
infiltration capacity remains at 15 millimetres per hour, then the rainfall rate is 10
millimetres per hour greater than the infiltration capacity. The 10 millimetres per hour
that does not infiltrate becomes surface runoff.
INFILTRATION EXCESS OVERLAND FLOW occurs with soil that is not saturated. In fact,
the soil can be quite dry, but soil properties or land cover do not allow for infiltration to
keep up with high rainfall or snowmelt rates.
INFILTRATION EXCESS OVERLAND FLOW
(also called HORTON OVERLAND FLOW)- There is a maximum limiting rate at which a
soil in a
given condition can absorb surface water input.
SATURATION EXCESS OVERLAND FLOW occurs when the soil becomes saturated and
there is no longer any space for water to infiltrate. This can occur even with soil that
would typically allow for large amounts of infiltration in sub-saturated conditions.
SATURATION EXCESS OVERLAND FLOW- Overland flow can occur due to
surface water input on areas that are already saturated