VIRGA

Virga

In meteorology, virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates or sublimes before reaching the ground. At high altitudes the precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating; this is often due to compressional heating, because the air pressure increases closer to the ground. It is very common in the desert and in temperate climates. In North America, it is commonly seen in the Western United States and the Canadian Prairies. It is also very common in the Middle East and North Africa.

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virga

Noun

  1. A type of note used in plainsong notation, having a tail.
  2. A streak of rain or snow that is dissipated in falling and does not reach the ground, commonly appearing descending from a cloud layer.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: virga
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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