Rain holds many fascinating facts that not everyone knows, for instance, not all rain is formed from water.
Things You Didn’t Know About Rain
How is Rain Formed?
Rain is a form of condensation of water vapor that occurs under cold conditions. Rain takes various forms such as drizzle, downpour, hail, and other forms like snow, sleet, and fog.
Rain is created when different water droplets fall to the Earth’s surface from clouds. Not all rain reaches the ground; some evaporate on their way down due to passing through dry air, creating another form of condensation. Rain plays an important role in the hydrological cycle, where water from oceans (and other water-containing areas) evaporates, condenses into clouds in the troposphere due to cooling, and when the clouds become heavy enough, the water falls back to Earth, forming rain. Subsequently, the water can seep into the ground or flow through rivers to the sea, continuing the cycle of transport.
Facts About Rain
Most Raindrops Don’t Reach the Ground
Clouds form when a mass of warm air meets a mass of cold air. Typically, the warm air mass is pushed higher than the cold air mass. At this point, the phenomenon of water vapor condensation begins, resulting in raindrops.
Raindrops flatten like a hamburger when they collide with other raindrops on their way to the ground. (Photo: Mylyan-Monastyrska/Shutterstock).
Before raindrops fall to the Earth’s surface, the rising warm air continues to push them upward. This process repeats multiple times during a storm, causing raindrops to grow larger (even forming ice pellets if hail occurs). Ultimately, a raindrop falls to the ground when its density is greater than that of the cloud where it formed, or due to the disintegration of the upward-moving warm air.
Not All Rain is Formed from Water
The size and gravitational force of Venus are similar to that of Earth. However, the similarities between these two planets stop there. Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System with an average temperature of about 500°C. Surrounding Venus are clouds of mercury, ferric chloride hydrocarbons, and sulfuric acid, creating acid rain that is the most corrosive in the solar system.
The Nature of Rain Depends on the Type of Clouds Above
We can reasonably predict the amount of rain without looking at weather apps on mobile phones. The two most common types of rain-inducing clouds are Nimbostratus and Cumulonimbus. Nimbostratus clouds are usually dark gray and low in altitude. If you see these clouds, a prolonged rain is imminent. Cumulonimbus clouds are thunderstorm clouds that have the shape of a mountain or tower, with a dark base. These clouds produce hail and tornadoes.
Rain Does Not Have the Shape of a Raindrop
In fact, raindrops are spherical when they form.
Books, TV shows, and weather channels often illustrate raindrops as having the shape of a drop of water. In reality, raindrops are spherical when they form. They then flatten out like a hamburger when colliding with other raindrops on their way to the ground.
Rain Does Not Always Wet the Ground
In dry and hot places, rain can even evaporate before it touches the ground.
Environmental expert Edward Abbey describes this phenomenon as follows: “You see the rain falling from the sky while life below the surface is wilting from lack of water. This is nature’s taunt at life that is gasping for water below the surface. Then the clouds dissipate, and all hope is lost.”
