When you shake a snow globe, white flakes are suspended in the enclosed environment until they begin to fall on the miniature buildings and people. Because we are located outside that little world, we can observe the entire weather system taking place—where the biggest accumulations of flakes are occurring, and how long it takes until the storm clears. We have a similar view of our planetary globe from satellites located above the Earth and beyond our weather systems that can see where precipitation is falling.

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