Have you ever seen a cloud that appears to have rain falling from it that disappears before reaching the ground? That’s what meteorologists call virga. The word virga comes from Latin and means “twig” or “branch.” Virga forms in conditions where the air is dry, and often warm. When there’s a layer of drier, warmer air near the ground, the precipitation falling from the cloud above will evaporate before hitting Earth. Some of the places you’re more likely to see virga are in deserts, at high altitudes, in the western U.S. and Canadian prairies, the Middle East, Australia and North Africa. But virga can happen anywhere when the conditions are right.
Sometimes, when you’re looking at your weather app, you might see what looks like rain or snow on the radar, but nothing is falling outside. Instead, look up at the clouds and see if you can spot virga. The radar is picking up precipitation in the air which is just not reaching the ground. As weather.gov says:
The radar isn’t lying, rather, the the rain or snow is not hitting the ground. If you have a dry air mass in place in the low levels, sometimes rain cannot completely penetrate that dry layer before it evaporates.
Do you want to learn to identify virga when you see it? Check out the photos on this page from our global EarthSky community. Once you acquaint yourself with the variations of virga, you’ll be able to spot it in your own sky. If you capture a photo of virga, submit it to us!
Photos of virga from EarthSky’s community
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Bottom line: Learn what virga is and how it forms, and see great photos to help you learn how to identify it yourself!
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