Why does precipitation always fall in small, individual units?

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Why can’t rain, or snow, fall in large units? It’s always small, single drops or flakes, and never one huge drop or snowball. The largest precipitation we see is normally hail, which can fall in single units the size of softballs or larger. Why can’t the other types fall in units that large?

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Rain drops can only form around dust particles (there are physics/energy reasons why water cant condense into very small raindrops without something to form on) because of this, rain starts and small drops that get bigger, not the other way around.

Now as those drops get bigger by fusing with other drops their surface area increases and there is more area for “wind” to hit. At some point this will split the drop preventing a large layer of water from just falling to the ground.

Of course ice can get around this since it is a solid. Large hail usually forms when small hail is blown back up into clouds by an updraft to pick up more water. It might circulate a few times before it falls to the ground.

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