shower
Let an agent distinguish showers from continuous precipitation and read shower forecasts as statements about probability and local variation.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Claude
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Origin and type What produces it and what falls.
Convective origin
The cloud and the instability behind it.
Cloud type
The convective cloud producing the shower.
- Which cloud type produced this shower? definition
- What atmospheric instability drove it? definition
Precipitation type
Rain, snow, hail or sleet.
Type of precipitation
What falls and why.
- What kind of precipitation fell, and at what temperatures? measurement
- Did the type change during the shower? measurement
Observation and measurement Recording what happened.
Weather reports
Coded observations.
Coded observation
The report code and station.
- How was this shower reported, and with which code? provenance
- What did the report miss because of the station position? boundary
Amount and intensity
Gauge and radar data.
Measured intensity
The rainfall rate and total.
- What rainfall rate and total did this shower produce? measurement
- How far do gauge and radar estimates agree? measurement
Forecasting Predicting showers.
Probability
Chance of a shower over an area.
Forecast probability
The probability and the area it refers to.
- What probability of showers is forecast, over what area and period? measurement
- How should that probability be explained to someone at one place? action
Forecast skill
How reliable the forecasts are.
Verification
How forecasts compare with outcomes.
- How reliable are shower forecasts at this range? measurement
- Where do forecasts most often fail? boundary
Impact What showers do.
Hazards
Flooding, hail and lightning.
Hazard assessment
The hazards associated with this shower.
- Which hazards did this shower carry? boundary
- When should a shower forecast trigger a warning? action
Effect on activities
Travel, events and outdoor work.
Operational impact
The effect on planned activities.
- What activities does this shower disrupt? action
- How long is the disruption likely to last? measurement
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Cross-cutting context
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- XCT
- Domain
- XCT.STA
- Also called
- shigure, drache nationale, sunshower
What it is Filled
A short period of precipitation, rain, snow or hail, falling from convective cloud, starting and stopping abruptly and varying quickly in intensity.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent distinguish showers from continuous precipitation and read shower forecasts as statements about probability and local variation.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Convective origin, from cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds
- Sudden onset and end, and rapid changes in intensity
- Patchy: some places get heavy rain while nearby places stay dry
- The bathroom shower is a different sense and not covered here
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present a shower probability as certainty of rain or of dry weather.
- Issue or imitate official severe weather warnings without authority.
- Ignore lightning or flash flood risk when guiding people outdoors.
Only with a human decision
- Calling off outdoor activities or evacuating sites because of storms.
May
- Report observed and forecast showers from official weather sources.
- Adjust outdoor plans or operations it controls around expected showers.
Moral aspects Filled
- Weather information guides safety decisions; overstating certainty misleads people.
Who is affected
- People outdoors
- Farmers and outdoor workers
- Event organizers
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the weather; national meteorological services issue forecasts and warnings.
Master systems
- National meteorological observation records
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q124709932 - registry parent class
related
- precipitation - inherits measurement and forecast questions
- cumulonimbus or cumulus cloud - convective cloud is what makes a shower
- shower as a bathroom fixture - a homonym; this entry is meteorological
- thunderstorm - deep convection turns showers into storms
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.shower-q1292121
- Wikidata: Q1292121 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1292121)
- WMO present weather code: codes 80-90 in the SYNOP table report shower types and intensities
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- duration: 5-60 minutes - longer events are usually not called showers
- rainfall rate: 1-50 mm/h - heavy showers exceed 10 mm/h
- horizontal size: 1-20 km - why showers are patchy
Plane XCT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Heaped convective cloud rather than a uniform grey layer
- Precipitation that starts and stops suddenly, with sunny spells between
- A rain curtain visible at a distance under an individual cloud
- A dark, often towering cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud with a visible curtain of precipitation beneath, and bright sky on either side.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- forecast it, usually as a probability over an area
- observe and report it, in weather observations with standard codes
- measure it, with rain gauges and radar
- plan around it, since it is brief and patchy
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Reading a shower probability as a forecast of continuous rain
- Flash flooding when heavy showers repeat over the same area
- Hail and lightning when showers deepen into storms
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- WMO Manual on Codes for weather reports
- WMO International Cloud Atlas
Context of use required Filled
- Describing and forecasting convective precipitation, which behaves differently from widespread rain.
- rain showers, snow showers, hail showers, sleet showers
- by intensity: light, moderate, heavy
- sunshower: rain falling while the sun shines
Sources Missing, in the backlog
Not described yet. This gap is in the card backlog.
Note: Written from model knowledge without web access; claims are unverified.
Open questions
- Should shower types be separate entries or values of one?
- How should probabilistic forecasts of showers be represented for agents?
- Which thresholds separate a heavy shower from a storm in different services?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q1292121/spec.json