Atmospheric precipitation refers to all forms of water, liquid or solid, that condense from atmospheric water vapor and fall to the Earth’s surface under gravity, including rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, and hail. It is governed by microphysical processes such as nucleation, droplet and ice-crystal growth, collision–coalescence, riming, and aggregation within clouds, and by dynamical processes like uplift, frontal systems, and convective motions. Precipitation is quantified using intensity, duration, phase, and spatial distribution, and is central to the hydrological cycle, energy budget, and climate system, serving as a key output variable in weather prediction and climate models.
Tropical forests help to generate vast amounts of rainfall each year, adding weight to arguments for protecting them as water and climate pressures increase, say researchers. A new study led by the University of Leeds has ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 17, 2026
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UK winters are becoming significantly wetter mainly due to warming driven by human burning of fossil fuels releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, a Newcastle University study reveals. The research shows that for ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 11, 2026
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Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, and sometimes these atoms are slightly heavier than usual. These heavier forms are called isotopes. As water evaporates or moves through the atmosphere, the amount of these isotopes changes ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 10, 2026
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Tiny, invisible gases long thought to be irrelevant in cloud formation may actually play a major role in determining whether clouds form—and possibly whether it rains.
Earth Sciences
Feb 10, 2026
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Despite a barren start to Colorado's ski season, Winter Park Resort opened on Halloween and served up holiday powder. The ski area's secret is a contraption a few miles upwind of the chairlifts that looks like a meat smoker ...
Environment
Feb 9, 2026
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Climate experts have identified an atmospheric configuration that can release huge volumes of water in a matter of minutes. Led by Newcastle University and the UK Met Office, the research helps explain some of the world's ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 2, 2026
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A new study out of York University has found that the amount of atmospheric trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), the tiniest forever chemical, significantly declined in Toronto during COVID in 2020, which researchers say is good news ...
Environment
Jan 29, 2026
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Deforestation is having a more devastating effect on the Amazon rainforest than earlier data suggested. While cutting down large swaths of trees destroys vital habitats, it also harms the region's ability to generate its ...
A severe winter storm that brought crippling freezing rain, sleet and snow to a large part of the U.S. in late January 2026 left a mess in states from New Mexico to New England. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 26, 2026
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Much of the western U.S. has started in 2026 in the midst of a snow drought. That might sound surprising, given the record precipitation from atmospheric rivers hitting the region in recent weeks, but those storms were actually ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 8, 2026
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