Hydrometeors may be classified in a number of different ways, of which the following is one example: 1) liquid or solid water particles formed and remaining suspended in the air, for example, damp (high relative humidity) haze, cloud, fog, ice fog, and mist; 2) liquid precipitation, for example, drizzle and rain; 3) freezing precipitation, for example, freezing drizzle and freezing rain; 4) solid (frozen) precipitation, for example, snow, hail, ice pellets, snow pellets (soft hail, graupel), snow grains, and ice crystals; 5) falling particles that evaporate before reaching the ground, for example, virga; 6) liquid or solid water particles lifted by the wind from the earth's surface, for example, drifting snow, blowing snow, and blowing spray.
Any product of condensation or deposition of atmospheric water vapor, whether formed in the free atmosphere or at the earth's surface; also, any water particle blown by the wind from the earth's surface.
