Key Concepts of Earth's Climate and Atmospheric Events

Climate: Concepts and Parameters

Climatology is the science that deals with climate studies. Climate is a set of meteorological phenomena that characterize the situation and weather in a particular place on Earth. The climate is the result of a series of interactions between latitude, altitude, continentality, and prevailing wind patterns.

Precipitation

Precipitation is water falling on the Earth's surface in liquid or solid form. For precipitation to occur, clouds must first be formed. This happens in three different ways:

• Convective Precipitation: Caused by rising warm air.
• Orographic Precipitation: Occurs when moist air is forced to rise over mountains.
• Frontal Precipitation: Results from the interaction of different air masses along a front.

Types of Rain

• Rain: Precipitation in liquid form.
  • Gentle drizzle is often caused by altostratus clouds.
  • Steady rain from a large area is typically associated with nimbostratus clouds.
• Showers: Short-lived precipitation originating from cumulonimbus clouds. The danger increases with its intensity (amount of rain per unit time) or frequency (how often precipitation repeats).
• Torrential Rain: Precipitation exceeding 200 liters per square meter (200 l/m²) within a 24-hour period.

Storms

Storms primarily form in cumulonimbus clouds. Convective and orographic storms, typically lasting 30 to 60 minutes and covering a small area, are common in summer. Frontal storms, however, behave differently.

For a storm to occur, there must be strong convection and powerful rising thermal currents. These currents initiate electrification processes where ice crystals become positively charged (+) and water droplets become negatively charged (-). The land surface also becomes positively charged (+).

Thus, the electric field between the land surface and the ionosphere is reversed. This leads to the transport of negative charges, resulting in lightning strikes. These electrons move to areas with positive charges. The thunder you hear is a result of the shock wave produced by the rapid heating of the air (up to approximately 800°C) along the lightning channel.

Snow and Hail

Snow forms when ice crystals from the top of a cumulonimbus cloud collide and bond with other ice crystals. These crystals join together to form snowflakes. This can be especially dangerous in mountainous regions due to avalanche risk.

Another related risk is blizzards: a combination of wind speeds above 50 km/h, falling snow, and temperatures below -7°C.

Hailstorms typically form in spring or summer when ice crystals fall from the top of a cloud into an intermediate zone with surrounding moisture. If strong thermal currents lift these ice crystals again, they accumulate additional layers of ice, increasing their diameter.