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Interesting Facts About Precipitation


Smow is the northeastern version of smoggy snow.  That is, when  temperature
and air quality inversions combine to create a dark yellowish layer of air
through which snow must fall to reach the ground.  The formerly white snow
drops through this sulfur laden band discoloring it, and worse, acidifying
it.  The resultant yellowish/brown precipitation is called SMOW.

Though lush and verdant, a rain forest does not need any more rain than a
temperate forest to maintain itself.

Hail comes in different sizes, though hail larger than golf balls is
unusual.  The largest hail ever recorded occurred in 1947 in the North of
England when Rutley on Bourne found itself pelted with frozen ice the size
of tetherballs.

In Glorsk, Siberia, seventeen feet of snow fell in a twelve hour period, the
fastest "snow-sprint" ever recorded.

The Atacama Desert - perhaps the driest place on earth - often receives snow
fall in the winter - however, it never reaches the ground.

Seattle, Washington, reported as sodden in the press, actually is no more
rainy than many other places in the continental US, and receives less than
half the rain which falls in Southern Florida.

Many unusual items have rained from the sky - dogs, cats, eggs, frogs,
snakes - but interestingly, none of these "rains" have ever occurred over a
large metropolitan area.

Well over 1000 cultures have, or have had, a rain dance.

The cooling effect of summer rain is a myth.  The cooler air moves in and
collides with the warmer air thus creating the potential for precipitation.
The rain is actually an afterthought of an already ongoing climactic
occurrence.

Occluded fronts are harbingers of drought as they tent to freeze the high
pressure areas in place.  The pressure builds and excludes other weather
patterns.

The most intense high pressure system ever recorded reached 47.74 on the
barometric scale, well beyond the scale of ordinary barometers.  Occurring
in the middle of the country of Chad, it blew out windows and suffocated
eighteen newborns in the city hospital in Laroussene.

Hobart Finster has been struck by lightening over 1000 times.  Dead since
1953 his grave is topped by a lightning rod which channels electricity to
Mr. Finster's body.  His original hope was that the electricity would revive
him.  To date there is no evidence Mr. Finster's goal has been realized.
The savage lightning attacks, however, have scattered more than one funeral,
and the resultant fires have kept his estate in court for years.

Michael Rockefeller, eaten by cannibals in Borneo, would have escaped his
fate had not a huge rainstorm hit washing out the bridges.  Trapped, he
tried to negotiate, alas, somewhat unsuccessfully.

Rain, once thought to be purified in the clouds, actually is teeming with
bacteria.  Never drink rain water without first boiling it.

Sleet was named for Baron Hoffman von Sleetz, protector of Hanover from
1749-1783.  Baron von Sleetz was an early meteorologist and perhaps the
first to use hot air balloons to ascend into the clouds to study the
formation of winter precipitation.  The baron died when the open fire he
used to heat the air which made his balloon rise, caught the observation
basket and then the balloon itself on fire.

The heaviest rainfall recorded in modern times occurred in Bagmorz, Pakistan
during the monsoon season in 1984.  Over a three day period over 70 feet of
water fell on, and obliterated, the small town.

ASCAP has registered over 3000 songs with the word "rain" in the title.
None with "hail" in the title.

Napoleon said:  "The man who controls the weather can conquer the world, "
not realizing as Sartre noted:  "If you can control the weather, you have
already conquered the world."

Hail the size of an acorn can kill a small animal.

You can smell rain before you feel it.





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