PRECIPITATION

All forms of water that reach the earth from the

atmosphere.
It is the product of the condensation of atmospheric
water vapor that falls under gravity.
Precipitation occurs when a local portion of the
atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapour, so
that the water condenses and "precipitates".
The usual forms are rainfall, snowfall, frost, hail,
dew. Of all these, the first two contribute
significant amounts of water.

Fog and mist (except when the terms are used to
mean "drizzle") are not precipitation but
suspensions, because the water vapour does not
condense sufficiently to precipitate.

Rainfall being the predominant form of
precipitation causing stream flow, especially the
flood flow in majority of rivers.
RAIN
Is precipitation in the form of water drops of size
larger than 0.5 mm to 6mm
The rainfall is classified in to
Light rain if intensity is trace to 2.5 mm/h
Moderate if intensity is 2.5 mm/hr to 7.5 mm/hr
Heavy rain above 7.5 mm/hr
Forms of Precipitation
SNOW
Snow is formed from ice crystal masses, which
usually combine to form flakes
HAIL (violent thunderstorm)
- precipitation in the form of small balls or
lumps usually consisting of concentric layers
of clear ice and compact snow.
- Hail varies from 0.5 to 5 cm in diameter
and can be damaging crops and small
buildings.
Cyclonic storms result from convergence of air
masses of different temperatures and characteristics.
Two fronts develop: a cold front in which cold air
moves under the warm air, and a warm front in
which warm air moves over the cold air.
Frontal Precipitation
Water vapour
Condenses to form clouds
Warm moisture laden air
from the south meets cold
air from the north and
forms the Warm Front
Warm air
Further cooling leads to
precipitation along the
Warm Front
Cold Air
Frontal Precipitation
Air cools down
Warm air rises
Ground heats up the air
Suns rays heat
up the ground

Water vapour
Condenses to form clouds
Further cooling
leads to heavy
precipitation
CONVECTIVE
High intensity, short duration precipitation
A summer thunderstorm is the typical convective storm.
Mechanical lifting of moist air masses over
natural barriers such as mountains.
Orographic precipitation occurs on the
windward side of mountains and is caused by
the rising air motion of a large-scale flow of
moist air across the mountain ridge, resulting
in adiabatic cooling and condensation.

OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION
Evaporation of water from
the ocean
Onshore
moisture laden
winds
Further
cooling
leads to
precipit
ation
OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION
WIND
Warm air
Water vapour
Condenses to form clouds
Rainfall are measured in terms of depth, the values
being expressed in millimeters.
One millimeter of precipitation represents the
quantity of water needed to cover the land with a
1mm layer of water, taking into account that nothing
is lost through drainage, evaporation or absorption.
Using Rain Gauge (Manual Reading)
Often have a funnel opening into
a cylinder gauge.
Come in a variety of shapes and
sizes
Calculate the rainfall (in mm) by
dividing the volume of water
collected by the area of the
opening of the cup. (The gauge
marking often accounts for this).
Simple accumulation gauges:
manual reading (typically every
24 hrs)

Tipping bucket rain gauge -The bucket tips when
precipitation of 0.2 mm, 0.5 mm, 1.0 mm has been
collected. Each tip is recorded by a data logger.
Using Rain Gauge (Automated)
It allows continuous measurement of the rainfall (mm /
hour)
Automated type (with tipping bucket)
Representativity

poor sampling can lead to under or
overestimation of area-mean precipitation.
need for dense network of gauges to capture
precipitation variability
Rain gauges Critical aspects
Accuracy

wind-induced errors
Rain gauges Critical aspects
Accuracy

evaporation from gauge

splash out: large drops may splash and parts of the drops
may be ejected

accumulation of heavy dew

Rain gauges Critical aspects
Gauges are affected by wind pattern, eddies, trees and
the gauge itself, therefore it is important to have the
gauge located and positioned properly.

1m above ground level is standard -
all gauges in a catchment should be the same height

2 to 4 times the distance away from an isolated object
(such as a tree or building) or in a forest a clearing
with the radius at least the tree height or place the
gauge at canopy level

- For sloping ground the gauge should be placed with the
opening parallel to the ground
- The rainfall catch volume (mm
3
) is then divided by the opening
area that the rain can enter
Placement of Rain Gauges
Number and Distribution of Gauges
Need to consider:
size of area
prevailing storm type
form of precipitation
topography
season
According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
In flat regions of temperate, Mediterranean and tropical zones
Ideal 1 station for 600 900 km
2

Acceptable 1 station for 900 3000 km
2

In mountainous regions of temperate , Mediterranean and
tropical zones
Ideal 1 station for 100 250 km
2

Acceptable 1 station for 250 1000 km
2

In arid and polar zone
1 station for 1500 10,000 km
2

10 % of the rain gauges should be self recording to know
the intensity of the rainfall

Number and Distribution of Gauges
Weather Station - Records rainfall, but also
evaporation, air pressure, air temperature, wind
speed and wind direction (so can be used to estimate
evapo-transpiration)

By Satellites

Meteorological Radar Ground-based radar
equipment can be used to determine how much rain
is falling and where it is the heaviest and and
movement of rainstorm.
Other Measuring Devices
Weather Station
MEAN PRECIPITATION OVER AN AREA
Rain gauges rainfall represent only point sampling of the
areal distribution of a storm
The important rainfall for hydrological analysis is a rainfall
over an area, such as over the catchment
To convert the point rainfall values at various stations to in
to average value over a catchment, the following methods
are used:
arithmetic mean
Thiessen polygons method
the isohyets method
Although, most of these calculations are done with computer
mapping programs, it is still useful to understand these methods.

When the area is physically and climatically
homogenous and the required accuracy is small, the
average rainfall ( ) for a basin can be obtained as the
arithmetic mean of the h
i
values recorded at various
stations.
Applicable rarely for practical purpose



Arithmetic Mean Method

=
=
+ + + +
=
N
i
i
n i
P
N N
P P P P
P
1
2 1
1 ..... .....
P
METHOD OF THIESSEN POLYGONS
This involves determining the area of influence for each
station, rather than assuming a straight-line variation. It is
easier than the isohyetal method but less accurate
Thiessen polygons .
Locate all rainfall stations on a base map and record the rainfall amount.
Connect each station by straight lines with the several nearest stations to form
a series of triangles.
Erect perpendicular bisectors on each of these lines and extend them to the
intersect with other bisectors, thus forming a series of irregular polygons
Thiessen polygons .
A
1

A
2

A
3

A
4

A
5

A
6

A
7

A
8

P
1

P
2

P
3

P
4

P
5

P
6

P
7

P
8

( )
m
m m
A A A
A P A P A P
P
+ + +
+ + +
=
.....
.....
2 1
2 2 1 1

=
=
= =
M
i
i
i
total
i
M
i
i
A
A
P
A
A P
P
1
1
Thiessen polygons .
Generally for M station
The ratio is called the weightage factor of station i
A
A
i
ISOHYETAL METHOD
The most basic method of representing the
spatial distribution. This is generally the most
accurate method but is also the most laborious.
An isohyet is a line joining points of equal rainfall
magnitude.


Isohyetal Method
F
B
E
A
C
D
12
9.2
4.0
7.0
7.2
9.1
10.0
10.0
12
8
8
6
6
4
4
a
1
a
1

a
2

a
3

a
4

a
5

Locate all rainfall
stations on a base
map and record the
rainfall amount.

Draw isohyets (lines
of equal rainfall) by
proportioning the
distances between
adjacent gauges
according to
differences in catch.
P
1
, P
2
, P
3
, . , P
n
the values of the isohytes
a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, ., a
4
are the inter isohytes area respectively
A the total catchment area
- the mean precipitation over the catchment



Isohyetal Method
P
A
P P
a
P P
a
P P
a
P
n n
n
|
.
|

\
|
+
+ +
|
.
|

\
|
+
+
|
.
|

\
|
+
=

2
...
2 2
1
1
3 2
2
2 1
1
The isohyet method is superior to the other two methods
especially when the stations are large in number.
NOTE
Computer Mapping Methods
Other mapping programs such as SURFER or GIS program
ARCVIEW can be used to map rainfall at the different
measurement locations.

Maps of rainfall can be produced by using the statistical
analysis packages that come with the program. Statistical
methods include nearest neighbour, inverse distance weighting
or kriging (which uses variogram analysis).

The statistical methods produce a grid over the specified area
of a specific size. The influence of the actual rainfall
measurement is determined for each grid node to produce a
rainfall amount at each node.