Cloud Association MET
The type of precipitation that forms depends on the type of cloud, which depends itself on the stability of the atmosphere.
In an unstable atmosphere, air can move up and down, giving cumuliform type clouds and meaning the droplets within the cloud hit each other a lot, forming large droplets (like rain.)
In an stable atmosphere, air cannot move up and down, giving stratiform type clouds and meaning the droplets within the cloud do not hit each other a lot, forming small droplets (like drizzle.)
Snow grains can be thought of as frozen drizzle, falling from stratus.
Hail is where layers of ice form, very much like an onion. This requires considerable upwards and downwards movement to keep the ice suspended for long enough for it to form, and so only happens in a cumulonimbus cloud.
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