seeder–feeder

From Glossary of Meteorology
Orographic precipitation-enhancement mechanism, in which precipitation from an upper-level precipitating cloud (seeder) falls through a lower-level orographic stratus cloud (feeder) capping a hill or small mountain.

Precipitation droplets or ice particles fall from the higher seeder cloud and collect cloud water as they pass through the lower feeder cloud by collision and coalescence or accretion, thus producing greater precipitation on the hill under the cap cloud than on the nearby flat land. The effectiveness of the process depends on sufficiently strong low-level moist flow to maintain the cloud water content in the orographic feeder cloud and the continuing availability of precipitation particles from the seeder cloud.

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