Drizzle symbol
Commas are the drizzle symbol on a weather map. One comma is light intermittent drizzle and two side by side light continuous drizzle; more commas mean heavier drizzle.
Easily confused with
How to read it
Drizzle is the 50 to 59 group in the WMO’s present weather table, as reproduced by NOAA’s JetStream school and the University of British Columbia’s course chart: a single comma is drizzle, not freezing, intermittent and slight, and the comma is repeated for continuous or heavier drizzle. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s notes describe the same rule of repeating the symbol for intensity. A comma with a dot under it is drizzle and rain together.
Also searched as: comma on a weather map, freezing drizzle symbol, two commas weather symbol.
These pages describe what each symbol on a weather chart means. They are not forecasts or warnings: for those, the national weather service for the area is the source.
Freezing drizzle
A comma inside the loop of a sideways S is freezing drizzle, slight in JetStream’s table; two commas make it moderate or heavy. ! wx-chart-drizzle-intermittent | Intermittent drizzle | One comma. ! wx-chart-freezing-drizzle | Freezing drizzle | A comma in the loop of a sideways S.
Look-alikes
A round dot without a tail is Rain symbol. The tail is the difference, and on a small plot it can be hard to see.
Read next
- Next in Weather map symbolsSnow symbolAsterisks are the snow symbol on a weather map. One asterisk is light intermittent snow and two side by side light continuous snow; more asterisks mean heavier snow.
- The same shape in Certification marksRainforest Alliance CertifiedThe Rainforest Alliance’s green frog seal: the farm or company behind the product, or behind one of its ingredients, met the Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard.
More weather map symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with curves and waves.
Sources
- JetStream Max: Surface Weather Plot Symbols, JetStream, the NWS online weather school, NOAA National Weather Service, Present Weather Symbols: codes 50-59
- Present weather symbols (annotated chart), ATSC 113 course notes; descriptions abridged from the WMO code, University of British Columbia, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Present weather, codes 50-59
- Reading the surface station model, Online Weather supplemental information, 9 February 1999, by Edward J. Hopkins, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Weather symbol convention
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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