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Calculations of collision rates between cloud droplets in turbulent air show that this would be an effective precipitation mechanism in cumulus if the r.m.s. turbulent acceleration were about 3 times that due to gravity. An estimated value, based on published records of flights through thunderstorms, is about one‐sixth of gravity. In the absence of more direct evidence, it seems that turbulence is not an important factor in convective precipitation.
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T.W.R. East (1957) studied this question.
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