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.
Atmospheric rivers act like "rivers in the sky," shuttling intense bands of warm, heavy moisture from lower to higher latitudes. When an atmospheric river encounters cold air or mountainous terrain, the moisture it carries ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 2, 2026
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After another spell of wet weather along Australia's east coast, with storms, heavy rain and flash flooding across Sydney and parts of New South Wales, it is natural to ask whether our cities are shaping the rainfall that ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 1, 2026
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New research led by Monash University sheds a new perspective on forecasts of future rainfall in Victoria, showing that recent dry conditions may not fully reflect long-term climate change signals.
Earth Sciences
Jun 1, 2026
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In a study published in Nature Geoscience, a research team led by Prof. Liu Lingli from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has identified a mean annual precipitation (MAP) threshold of approximately ...
Earth Sciences
May 30, 2026
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About two-thirds of the U.S. is in some stage of drought in late spring 2026, yet at the same time the country has been seeing more intense downpours. It might seem contradictory, but both are symptoms of rising global temperatures.
Environment
May 26, 2026
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As climate change increases the risk of flooding worldwide, understanding how floods form has never been more important. However, the science behind flooding is notoriously difficult to grasp, involving interactions among ...
Earth Sciences
May 18, 2026
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AI can predict rainfall intensity better than several widely used forecasting models in tests using historical weather data from India. The new model reported in the International Journal of Mobile Communications shows that ...
Environment
May 14, 2026
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A Dartmouth study shows that annual rainfall in much of the world has consolidated over the past four decades into heavier storms with longer dry periods in between.
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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How are cold air masses advancing in the United States connected to fertilizers carried by "flying rivers" from Africa that nourish the soils of the Brazilian Amazon? An article published in Geophysical Research Letters reveals ...
Earth Sciences
May 9, 2026
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Perched in a tower atop a hill, Matthew Douglas climbs a staircase and emerges from a hatch on the roof, where a heavy glass ball in a metal cradle has burned a thin streak into a strip of paper, recording the previous day's ...
Environment
Apr 30, 2026
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