Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 74, Nos. 1/2, 1994. p. 75-89.
A microscopic model of warm clouds involving input of water droplets, droplet-droplet aggregation, droplet breakup, and precipitation is presented. Numerical simulations and analytical arguments indicate that after the stage of growth and just before precipitation sets in, a warm cloud is characterized by a droplet-size distribution which follows from an inverse power law as a function of the droplet size. When precipitation is taken into account, the above distribution is transformed into a distribution decaying exponentially with the droplet size, in agreement with field observations. It is suggested that the initiation of rainfall in a precipitating warm cloud can be viewed as an instability triggered by the presence of a power-law distribution.