Storm development and rain

"Roger (K8RI)" wrote:
Yup. The change of state from vapor to liquid gives off a lot of
energy and from liquid to solid (hail) a LOT more.

It's been a (long) while since I've done this stuff, so I had to look the
numbers up. I think you got it backwards -- the vapor to liquid transition
(heat of condensation) is more than the liquid to solid (heat of fusion)
for water.

Heat of condensation: 540 cal/g
Heat of fusion: 80 cal/g

But, by the time you've got a cloud, hasn't the condensation already
happened? I would think there would still be some heat liberated in going
from lots of microscopic water droplets to one big raindrop, but probably
nothing compared to the heat of condensation.