Precipitation

Precipitation is anything from rain to hail to snow. The colours distinguish snow (white), sleet (yellow) and rain (blue)

Cloud Cover

Shows the cloud structure and the level of coverage. The cloud cover includes the clouds from three different altitudes, summarised in a forecast. High clouds: These occur at altitudes of 5-13km in temperate zones. They are fair-weather clouds, so even if you see high coverage, it may still be sunny as the sun can break through the high clouds. Middle clouds: These are found between 2-7km in temperate zones. Low clouds: These occur between 0-2km above the Earth. Low clouds (and middle clouds) can be the reason for rainy weather; they don’t let a lot of sunlight through, so the more low (and middle clouds) you see, the more you can expect a grey and rainy day.

Forecast