Drizzle

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/drizzle

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the droplet diameter range?Typically less than 0.5 mm
2. What is the associated cloud types?Predominantly low stratiform and stratocumulus clouds
3. What is drizzle and how is it different from regular rain?Drizzle is super‑tiny rain that tickles your nose. Its drops are smaller than 0.5 mm, while normal rain drops are larger.
4. How does drizzle form in clouds?In low clouds like stratiform or stratocumulus, tiny droplets collide and stick together. Because the updrafts are gentle, the droplets stay small and become drizzle.

Collision-Coalescence: The process by which cloud droplets grow larger by colliding and merging with each other.
Virga: Precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground.
Terminal Velocity: The constant speed that a freely falling object eventually reaches when the resistance of the medium through which it is falling prevents further acceleration.