There are some clouds that based on appearance are most likely to produce rain (low and very dark in color, or very vertically developed cumulus), but much of our midlatitudeprecipitation comes from stratiform clouds that may produce either rain or snow.
Most of our rain actually forms as ice in the cloud layer and melts on the way down, so it is actually melted snow. Much depends on the temperature of the atmosphere between the clouds and the ground.
As I understand it, dark color tends to indicate higher liquid water content rather than ice, and low means warmer temps, which is why I'd cautiously say that low dark clouds are more likely to be rain.
An awful lot of the time, the look of the clouds probably can't tell you whether to expect snow or rain unless you're a seasoned expert. You can try to judge by what the temperatures outside seem like, and by estimating the environmental lapse rate (the change in temperature with altitude).
There is still quite a debate about this; some people would swear that rain clouds and snow clouds are different, and say they can see in the clouds when it looks like snow.
Tropical rain, of course, is more likely to form as water in the first place - but in tropical regions you're not wondering whether it'll be rain or snow!
A quick check of any meteorology or physical geography text should allow you to read about the two major ways precipitation forms in clouds: the collision-coalescence process (only gives rain) or the Bergeron Ice-Crystal process (could give rain or snow).
snow, rain, sleet, and hail
Snow and rain are both forms of precipitation that result from water vapor in the atmosphere condensing and falling to the ground. The primary difference between them is that snow falls as frozen ice crystals, while rain falls as liquid water droplets.
Snowflakes are lighter than the more frozen denser hail.
The 4 main precipitaions are rain, hail, sleek and snow
The ratio between snow and rain can vary significantly based on temperature and atmospheric conditions, but a common rule of thumb is that 1 inch of rain is roughly equivalent to 10 inches of snow. This ratio can change; for instance, wetter, denser snow may have a lower ratio, while light, fluffy snow may have a higher ratio. Ultimately, the specific conditions at the time of precipitation will determine the exact conversion.
drizzle is light rain and flurries are small particles of snow.
Rain can be humid or it can be cold Snow is always cold
snow, rain, sleet, and hail
Snow and rain are both forms of precipitation that result from water vapor in the atmosphere condensing and falling to the ground. The primary difference between them is that snow falls as frozen ice crystals, while rain falls as liquid water droplets.
What is the difference between a rain coat and a rain slicker?
weather is precipitation rain, hail, snow, ice,e.g. weathering is the wearing away of rock
snow + rain = sleet
Snowflakes are lighter than the more frozen denser hail.
The difference is where you live.
The difference between rain and showers is that the showers is the lighter version of the rain.
There is very little difference between a snow blower and an electric snow shovel. Both are effectively snow blowers which use power to move snow rather than manual labour.
There is no direct conversion between rain and snow because the amount of snow that is produced from a given amount of rain can vary greatly depending on factors such as temperature and humidity. On average, 10 mm of rain is roughly equivalent to 1 cm of snow. So, 3 mm of rain could potentially produce around 0.3 cm of snow.