Precipitation Formation Mechanisms Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The first two are correct and are why such models are now widely used. The third is wrong, since microphysics operates at scales far below any feasible grid spacing. Microphysics will remain parameterised for the foreseeable future.

Answer: D

Everything in the subject reduces to whether the growth mechanisms carry particles past the fall out size. Aerosol, depth and dynamics all matter through their influence on that one question. Everything else in the subject is a means to that end.

Answer: A

The keyed answer is option A, drizzle, rain, shower. The printed option lacks commas and reads "Drizzle, rain shower".

Drizzle has the smallest drops: the WMO Cloud Atlas describes drizzle drops as usually less than 0.5 mm across, while rain drops begin at about 0.5 mm. So drizzle must come first, and only option A starts with drizzle. Options B and D are printed identically ("Rain drizzle shower") and both put rain before drizzle, which is wrong whatever one thinks of showers. Option C puts shower first and drizzle last, the reverse of the correct trend.

Placing a shower after rain follows the textbook idea that showers fall from convective clouds with larger drops than steady rain. That last step could not be confirmed in a reference during checking, but it is the only reading under which any option is right, and the question was keyed A.