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.
A new study led by the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich reveals that a key part of the climate system—the large-scale wind patterns that determine where rain falls—can be underestimated by current climate models, helping ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 29, 2026
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Tiny organisms on the ground—bacteria and fungi—have a "superpower" that allows them to reach up into the atmosphere and pull down the rain, according to a recent study.
Environment
Apr 13, 2026
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Seasonal monsoon rains in India turn crops lush and fill essential water reservoirs. They can also cause roads to flood and bring train travel to a standstill, impacting the economic heartbeat of cities and towns.
Environment
Apr 9, 2026
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More than 2 trillion gallons of water—enough to fill 3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools—inundated Hawaiʻi in March. The accumulated rainfall over 14 days reached as high as 3,000% of normal historical levels for this ...
Environment
Apr 1, 2026
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As global temperatures climb, rainfall patterns are shifting in ways that could put water resources and agriculture under increasing strain, a new study published in Water Resources Research suggests.
Tiny pieces of plastic, called microplastics, are showing up everywhere, even in the water in clouds, rain, and snow—and they may be affecting our weather and temperatures. A study published in Environmental Science & Technology ...
Environment
Mar 20, 2026
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Hydrological models represent water movement in natural systems, and they are important for water resource planning and management. But the models depend on reliable input data for weather factors, and precipitation can be ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2026
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Scientists have long focused on rising temperatures to understand how climate change is reshaping the natural world. But there's a critical blind spot in that picture: rain. A new global study reveals precipitation has been ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 3, 2026
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Atmospheric rivers carry unfathomable amounts of water across the sky, bringing moisture to drought-stricken regions like the Western U.S. But whether a particular incoming atmospheric river storm will result in disastrous ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 2, 2026
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A key question in any discussion about climate is "How much rain fell?" But perhaps there is an even more important one. Like any household budget, the global water economy is based on "income," that is, water entering the ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 23, 2026
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