降水是指在大气中冷凝的水汽以不同方式下降到地球表面的天气现象。大气中的水汽几乎全部集中于对流层中，温度越高，大气可以容纳的水汽含量就越多，反之就越少。一定温度下，当空气不可容纳更多的水汽时，称为饱和空气。当饱和空气中的水汽和温度相匹配时，不会出现水汽凝结现象，但当空气达到过饱和状态时，则会产生多余的水汽并发生水汽凝结。

过饱和空气的形成主要是由于空气的上升运动，造成气温下降，形成过饱和水汽；加上吸湿性较强的凝结核的作用，水汽凝结成云，来自云中的云滴，冰晶体积太小，不能克服空气的阻力和上升气流的顶托，从而悬浮在空中。当云继续上升冷却，或者云外不断有水汽输入云中，使云滴不断地增大，以致于上升气流再也顶不住时候，才能从云中降落下来，形成雨、雪、雹等降水天气。

In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and "precipitates". Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called "showers."