List four factors that affect precipitation
Topic scowmce

Precipitation.

Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. This is produced by the evaporation

of water from oceans, lakes, rivers, wetlands and plants.

When water evapour in the air cools, it condenses. In other words, it becomes liquid and

forms little drops. These droplets form clouds.

When the droplets are small, they remain suspended in the atmosphere. But they often

become colder and their size and weight increases When they become too heavy to

remain suspended in the air, they fall to the Earth’s surface. We call this precipitation,

which may be rain, snow or hail.

Factors affecting precipitation.

Different areas of the Earth’s surface receive different amounts of precipitation.

 Latitude: it rain more in the areas near the equator than in the temperature

zones and polar regions. The temperature is higher near the Equator so there is

more evaporation.

 Altitude: it rains more in high areas than in low areas.

 Level of humidity: it rains more on the coast than inland. Seas are a source of

humidity.

Precipitation is measured in millimeters (mm) per square matre.

distance, luminosity, brightness, radius, chemical composition, and temperature