Final answer:
Precipitation falls as different forms, including rain, snow, sleet, hail, or freezing rain, depending on atmospheric conditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Depending on weather conditions, precipitation falls as rain, snow, freezing rain, sleet, or hail. Precipitation is water that descends from clouds in the atmosphere to Earth's surface. Common forms include rain, which is liquid precipitation, and snow, which consists of ice crystals and is the solid phase of water.
The type of precipitation that occurs is dependent on the atmospheric conditions present at the time of condensation and subsequent falling to the surface. When air currents carry water vapor into the atmosphere, cooling leads to condensation where water vapor becomes liquid water droplets.
These droplets can aggregate to form clouds and, if they grow large enough, fall as different forms of precipitation. Snow is formed when temperatures are below freezing, while rain occurs when temperatures are above freezing.