Precipitation

Precipitation is any form of water that returns to the surface of Earth. Water droplets may fall down as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.

Rain

Rain is precipitation in the form of liquid water. It may fall in different intensities, from very light to moderate to heavy. A raindrop measures about 0.5 millimeters (mm) wide or smaller. A drizzle is very light rain, in which the raindrops are very small (measuring less than 0.5 mm), numerous, and uniformly dispersed. They are smaller than raindrops. They fall to the ground from low stratus clouds.

Hail

Hail appears as irregular ball-like lumps of ice that are produced by cumulonimbus clouds. Each lump measures about 5 mm or more in diameter.

Sleet

Sleet consists of ice pellets that may be spherical or irregular in shape and measuring about 5 mm or less in diameter.