why does it rain for most of time rather than snow?
924420
Depends on where you live.  In the polar regions, it snows alla time, it never rains.
94909
It actually has to do with the dryness of the air between the storm and the area just above the ground and the difference in pressure between the storm front and the storm itself. As the super low pressures meet the moist air in the storm, they cause it to equalize rapidly, which, as we know from our nitrous oxide cans, causes the temperature to drop rapidly. This is what needs to happen to form ice crystals, not just ice. As the snow falls to the air close to the earth, it will melt back to rain or fog if the air below is too moist. The UK, like Louisiana and Florida, is known for having extreme humidity levels and low altitude. The air on the ground can be below zero, while the air below the storm (where the snow falls into first) may be wet and warm. Another thing that may affect snowfall is that the pressure close to the ground causes the snow to quickly expand and vaporize into fog and invisible humidity. This is where your altitude comes into play. Lower altitude, higher pressure. Altitude may not matter, though, if the air is dry and cold enough, just below the storm. It snows in some deserts where air is dry (which loses heat easily) and the altitude may even be sea level.
191055
clouds fall all the time, in the form of rain or snow. The cloud is not a container for moisture, it IS the moisture.  \n\nLuckily, it falls gently or heavily, but not all at once!  I think maybe you were asking "what if a cloud fell all at once," in which case I'd say YIKES.  Kind of like a tsunami from the sky, I guess!
21576
Snow Shower - A short duration of light to moderate snowfall. Accumulations of snow are possible.\n\nFreezing Rain - Rain that falls in liquid form and then freezes upon impact with the ground or an item with a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less, possibly producing a thin coating of ice. Even in small amounts, freezing rain can cause traveling problems. Large amounts can pull down power lines and tree branches.\n\nSleet - Precipitation consisting of transparent pellets of ice, 5 millimeters or less in diameter. Also called ice pellets. Forms when snow enters a warm layer of air above the surface and melts and then enters a deep layer of sub freezing air on the surface and refreezes.\n\nSnow Flurries - Intermittent snowfall of short duration. No measurable accumulation of snow occurs.\n\nYour HW i guess? ;)
1050106
It storms more in the afternoon than in the morning because the sun (in addition to creating all of the earth's weather) gives tremendous amounts of energy to weather systems making them 'stormy' as opposed to just 'rainy'. In reality the afternoon / early evening hours are the most common times for a storm (during the warm weather seasons at least) \n\nCheers.
820933
In the rain I think I got splashed on but it's not bad. In the snow I get to jump in, or go sledding and slide down the snow.
2460
Here's more than you probably ever wanted to know about sleet.\nDefinitions of sleet on the Web:\n\n    * precipitate as a mixture of rain and snow; "If the temperature rises above freezing, it will probably sleet"\n    * partially melted snow (or a mixture of rain and snow)\n      wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn\n\n    * Whereas hail forms within clouds, sleet begins as snow falling to earth after having left its originating cloud. The snow partially melts on its trip down in a layer of warm air but then refreezes into ice crystals that appear much like hail.\n      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleet\n\n    * Depending on the region, precipitation of rain or snow mixed, or rain and hail, or rain and ice pellets, or melting snow, or sudden and brief rainfall with wind and hail.\n      www.palmbeachdailynews.com/weather/content/shared/weather/weather_glossary.html\n\n    * Rain that turns to ice pellets before reaching the ground. Sleet also causes roads to freeze and become slippery.\n      weathereye.kgan.com/cadet/disaster/glossary.html\n\n    * A type of frozen precipitation, consisting of small transparent pellets.\n      ggweather.com/glossary.htm\n\n    * Frozen or partly frozen rain.\n      www.telemet.com/weather_gloss_s.htm\n\n    * Precipitation consisting of transparent pellets of ice, 5 millimeters or less in diameter. Also called ice pellets. Forms when snow enters a warm layer of air above the surface and melts and then enters a deep layer of sub freezing air on the surface and refreezes.\n      www.weca.org/nws-terms.html\n\n    * Describes solid grains of ice formed by the freezing of raindrops or the refreezing of largely melted snowflakes. These grains usually bounce upon impact with the ground or pavement. Heavy sleet is a relatively rare event defined as an accumulation of ice pellets covering the ground to a depth of 1/2" or more. See Ice Pellets.\n      www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetstream/append/glossary_s.htm\n\n    * also called ice pellets. Sleet is formed when raindrops or melted snowflakes freeze as they pass through a below-freezing layer of air near the earth's surface. Sleet does not normally stick to trees and wires, and usually bounces on hitting the ground. An accumulation of sleet often has the consistency of dry sand.\n      www.sws.uiuc.edu/atmos/statecli/Winter/glossary.htm\n\n    * Frozen or partially frozen rain that form when rain passes through a layer of air that is below the freezing temperature, falls to earth as a slush. Freshwater.\n      www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/antarctica_glossary_of_terms2.htm\n\n    * a form of precipitation in which droplets are partially frozen as water-ice (or water-snow) mixture.\n      www.naturalhazards.org/glossary/\n\n    * in the US, a term used to describe tiny ice pellets that are formed when rain or partially melted snowflakes refreeze before reaching the ground. Colloquial usage of the term coincides with British usage, which defines sleet as a mixture of rain and snow.\n      www.pnl.gov/atmos_sciences/Cdw/Glossary.html\n\n    * Frozen precipitation that results when rain drops freeze while falling, before hitting the ground. This occurs when rain falls through a layer of colder air underlying a layer of warmer air. See Temperature Inversion.\n      wilstar.com/skywatch_glossary.htm\n\n    * 1. See ice pellets. 2. In British terminology, and colloquially in some parts of the United States, precipitation in the form of a mixture of rain and snow.\n      amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse\n\n    * Sleet is frozen precipitation falling as ice pellets. Ice pellets occur when snowflakes melt into raindrops as they pass through a thin layer of warmer air. The raindrops then refreeze into particles of ice when they fall into a layer of sub-freezing air near the surface of the earth.\n      www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/precip.html\n\n    * precipitation which is a mixture of rain and ice.\n      www.tex
774374
It's because there is typically less humidity in the air in the winter.  Humidity refers to moisture in the air and dampness on the surfaces of objects, and this moisture helps to dissipate or equalize the static charge.
443256
All of the above, however average precipitation is a better descriptor (as opposed to rainfall), as it includes snowfall or any other method of water falling from the sky.
906375
All I know about freezing rain is that it hardens (freezes) once it hits the ground.
986306
You actually have seasons. \n\nWinter can be very cold and more snow than usual.
764782
Any precipitation when it's "too cold for snow" will produce ice instead of snow.
989305
Rain, rain and more rain.  Rain enough to have mud slides and trees down because the soil around their roots has washed away, and flooding and rain, rain, rain.\n\nWe suffered through it a few years ago, and it sounds like we may suffer through it again this winter.  Sometimes I feel like I am going to grow moss between my toes.
467833
In some countries, they spray the top of the clouds ("seed the clouds") with chemicals (AgI or AgCl).  This causes the small water droplets in the cloud to grow, and finally the drops are big and heavy enough to fall to the ground in the form of rain.\n\nThe reason for doing this could be that you really don't want rain in a certain area, and you think it is a better idea to make the potential rain clouds "release the rain" in another area, before they have moved with the wind to the area you want to protect.\n\nSo, the rain is not really artificial, but the cause of the rain is artificial.
149401
when it rains, it pours.\n\nHope you don't live on/near a hillside.
597267
Lower pressure will result in more "convection," or vertical movement of moisture.  So in general, the lower the pressure the better chance of precipitation.
28574
Lightning can happen when it snows.  The reason lighting happens is because the air in the clouds is negatively charged compared to the ground (making the clouds (-) and the gorund (+)).  The clouds usally get this way in dry conditions cause there is less moisture in the air to stop air molecules from rubbing up against one another and creating excess energy (a negative charge).  Well since the clouds are (-) it needs a way of getting rid of some energy so it can be neutral (n).  It does this by passing some energy in to the (+)  ground, which also want to be (n).  This passing of energy rips throught the (n) air in between the (-) clouds and the(+) ground and creats the effect of lightning.  Now the reason it usually doesn't happen when it snow is because of the moisture in the air being so high, but everyonce in a while the air become dry enough when it snow to produce lightning.