Why does it always rain? Why is it raining? Where does the rain come from?
We listen to the weather forecast every day to find out whether it will rain today, and whether it is worth taking an umbrella with us to hide from the rain and not get wet. Many of us like to walk in the rain, fall asleep to the sound of rain, while others, on the contrary, try to hide at home at the first drops of rain; they cannot stand the slush and dampness that rain brings.
The first spring rains awaken nature, fill the earth with life-giving moisture, and dissolve the dirty remains of snow. On hot summer days, rains refresh the air and wash away dust from the leaves of trees.
Rain is precipitation that fall from the clouds floating across our sky. Clouds can have a wide variety of shapes: sometimes they look like huge pieces of cotton wool or giant waves, sometimes they resemble bird feathers. Sometimes the sky is covered with a huge black cloud or a solid gray veil.
How clouds form
Clouds form in the sky and are made up of water droplets and ice crystals. How do water droplets and ice crystals get into the clouds? By heating the surface of the earth, the sun's rays evaporate a large number of moisture that rises into the air in the form of water vapor.
Water vapor also rises from the surfaces of bodies of water: rivers, seas, lakes. All the plants of the Earth from the smallest blade of grass to huge tree evaporate water, and animals and humans exhale water vapor.
The higher the temperature and humidity of the air, the more water vapor is formed, which condenses and turns into tiny droplets of water. Clouds form from these small droplets of water, as well as from ice crystals, if the air is cold. 
Not every cloud makes rain. For rain to fall from a cloud, the water droplets must become larger. In clouds, the sizes of droplets gradually increase - water vapor is deposited on small droplets from the air and the droplets become larger, and the droplets also move in the cloud in all directions, collide with each other, merge and increase.
If the cloud consists only of water droplets, then the process of formation of a rain cloud occurs very slowly. Mixed clouds, the upper part of which consists of ice crystals, and the lower part of water droplets quickly form rain clouds, since when they fall into the lower layers of the atmosphere, where the temperature is above zero, the ice crystals evaporate and turn into large drops of water. Mixed clouds fall to the ground in the form of heavy rains and even downpours. Cumulonimbus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus, stratus and altostratus clouds are classified as nimbus clouds.
What types of rains are there?
Rain is droplets of water, which can be very small, less than 0.5 mm, and up to larger ones, reaching a size of 6-7 mm. Rains are precipitation that falls from spring to autumn. In rare cases, it may rain in winter. Scientists divide precipitation into three types: drizzle, heavy rain and torrential rain.
Other people give rain a wide variety of definitions - warm and cold, long-awaited and annoying, short-term and prolonged.
It often rains with hail, snow, and thunderstorms. Rain can be blind or mushroom, and even icy, and also radioactive and acidic, exotic and even stellar.
Drizzling rain, drizzle
When it is drizzling, it is impossible to get wet under such rain, but you can feel the dampness hanging in the air. Drizzling rain is rain with small and frequent droplets, it is almost unnoticeable; small droplets, once on the surface of a puddle, do not form circles. Drizzling rains reduce visibility and make the day foggy.
Drizzle is very small drops no larger than 0.5 mm, which seem to hang in the air, since they have a very low falling speed; drizzle also falls during fog. When it drizzles, drops are not visible, and the air itself seems damp and wet.
Shower rain, thunderstorm and hail
Storm clouds are formed when cold air meets warm air masses, and the cause of heavy rains is intense heat, wet soil warms up greatly, and the moisture that evaporates from the earth's surface forms heavy clouds overloaded with water. Many of us observed these evaporations; the damp earth seemed to be smoking.
Rain showers begin suddenly and end just as suddenly. They usually don't last long, but can be very strong. 
Thunderstorms are always torrential, they also occur suddenly, are accompanied by strong winds, thunder and lightning, and can fall on a certain area of the city and cause a lot of trouble.
These are uprooted and fallen trees, overturned billboards, broken wires, demolished roofs, flooded streets and entrances of houses, and other areas of the city were spared by the rain, not a single drop of rain fell there.
Lightning accompanying thunderstorms, hitting residential buildings, causes fires, breaks trees, and sometimes lightning hits animals and people.
Tropical downpours continue for hours, and a huge mass of water pours onto the ground. Often heavy rains cause floods, rivers overflowing with water overflow their banks, water flows erode dams and dams, flood settlements, destroy houses, roads, bridges, mudflows come down from the mountains, and landslides occur. People often become victims of floods.
Rain and hail occur only in hot weather, when the air is filled with a lot of moisture. Hailstones form in cumulonimbus clouds, and when they reach large sizes and cannot remain suspended, they fall to the ground in the form of hail. Hail comes in various sizes from small peas to the size of a chicken egg.
Large hail can pierce the roofs of houses, break windows, and even kill animals and people. And small hail causes a lot of damage agriculture, destroys crops in vegetable gardens and fields, damages orchards.
Blind or mushroom rain
Blind rain or mushroom rain occurs in the summer, during such rain the sun shines in the sky, and such rain is also called solar rain, after a sunny rain a rainbow always appears.
Getting caught in such rain, and even seeing a rainbow, is considered a good omen. Also, according to popular belief, mushrooms begin to grow after rain - hence the name - mushroom rain. This is a warm and short rain.
Heavy or persistent rains
Heavy rain can last from several hours to several days. During prolonged rains, the entire sky is covered with clouds, the sun does not appear through the clouds, the day becomes dark and gloomy. Prolonged rains, especially in autumn, are accompanied by a decrease in air temperature. These are cold rains, boring, annoying, turning all the colors of the surrounding world into dull, gray colors.
freezing rain
Freezing rain occurs when the air near the surface of the earth has a lower temperature (from 0 degrees to - minus 10 degrees) than in the upper atmosphere. When raindrops enter cold air, they become covered with an ice crust; inside the crust, the water remains in a liquid state.
Falling to the ground, such ice balls break and the water flows out and instantly freezes. Getting on tree branches, on wires, on surrounding objects, freezing rain gives objects and trees a fabulous look unusual look, every branch is covered with an ice crust, and sidewalks and roads turn into an ice skating rink.
This a natural phenomenon It looks beautiful, but is dangerous, because under the weight of the ice, wires break, branches break, and pedestrians are injured.
Acid and radioactive rain
Acid rain- These are rains that contain acids and toxic substances released into the atmosphere from harmful industrial enterprises and automobile exhausts. Industrial production pollutes the air with harmful gases that rise up and fall into the clouds, combining with water droplets to form acid. And acid rain falls on the earth, bringing only harm to all life on Earth. Acid rain destroys crops and kills fish in water bodies.
Radioactive rain carries an even greater danger - background radiation increases, which leads to genetic mutations and diseases internal organs, to oncology and skin damage. The cause of radioactive rain is accidents at nuclear power plants and at enterprises that use radioactive substances in the production and testing of nuclear weapons.
Exotic rains
Exotic rains are unusual rains, wonderful, mysterious. Rains, which together with water bring down various objects onto the surface of the earth: coins, grain, fruits, and even spiders, fish, jellyfish and frogs.
Sometimes raindrops are colored in different colors - blue, red. Why does it rain so much? Dust devils can often be observed above the surface of the earth on hot summer days. Rotating, this air column draws in various small debris - pieces of paper, wood chips, plastic bags, even plastic bottles and raises it all above the surface of the earth.
More powerful tornadoes are capable of lifting large, heavy objects into the air, and if such a tornado passes over the surface of reservoirs, then along with the water it sucks in and lifts living creatures living in the water high into the air. The wind blowing in the upper layers of the atmosphere carries tornadoes and whirlwinds over long distances, and when the strength of the wind weakens, “gifts from heaven” fall to the ground along with the rain, and sometimes without rain.
Why are there colored rains? The wind lifts plant pollen high into the sky, and the pigment contained in the pollen colors the rain in different colors - blue, green, yellow. A whirlwind can also suck water from a swamp, which contains large quantities of tiny microorganisms that give the water a brown, red color, or, passing over the desert, raise a lot of multi-colored dust into the air.
Star and meteor showers
Star shower is a meteor shower, or rather, it is meteor bodies that fly into the atmosphere of our Earth and develop speeds of up to tens of kilometers per second; when they rub against the air, they heat up and begin to glow, and then are destroyed. This phenomenon can be observed at certain times, at night, it seems that stars are falling. People often make wishes when they see falling stars.
Meteor shower or rock shower is a rain that consists of many meteorites. When a large meteorite breaks up, both large and small fragments fall to the ground. Large meteorites hitting the surface of the Earth explode and form meteorite craters. It is believed that about a thousand small meteorites fall on our planet every day.
Why do bubbles form when it rains?
Raindrops, falling into puddles, hit the water, splash out to the top of the water surface, and the air trapped under the water film forms bubbles. Larger and more noticeable bubbles form when there is heavy rain with large drops or heavy rain.
There is one folk sign If large bubbles form in the puddles, it means the rain will end soon. The sun will shine brightly and the sky will turn blue.
Children are very inquisitive. They hope to always receive comprehensive answers to their many questions from adults.
When a child sees rain, on the street, in a picture or in a cartoon, he may have a question: Why is it raining? Where does it come from in the clouds? How is it formed? Why does it fall from the sky?
Rain is one of the stages of the water cycle in nature. When the Sun shines on the Earth, it warms it up. There are many different bodies of water on our planet - rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. The light and warmth of the sun heats all this water. Some of the water becomes steam. These are very small droplets of water that are difficult to see individually.
We see it when water boils in a saucepan or kettle. The steam is very light, which is why it rises into the sky. When there are a lot of small droplets of steam, clouds are formed that float in the sky, high above our heads. They are driven by the wind.
While the air is warm, nothing happens to them. But when the air gets cold, small droplets of steam are attracted to each other and become larger raindrops.
Gradually the clouds become heavy and large. And then they rain down on the Earth.
How to make rain with your own hands?
You can demonstrate a simple experiment to your child at home. To do this, put a pan of water on the fire. Hold the lid over the pan. To keep it constantly cold, place pieces of ice on top. As the water heats up, steam will form. It will rise and settle on the bottom of the lid. The steam droplets will begin to connect. The child will then see large droplets of water dripping back into the pan. This is how you get artificial rain at home.
Have you ever wondered what the real causes of rain are? Oh, do you have your own opinion on this matter, which you consider to be the only correct one? Oddly enough, all people also have their own opinions. So, maybe it’s worth finding out what the real reasons for rain are for them?
Here comes a young man, serious and preoccupied, with a tube in his hand. It’s immediately obvious that he’s a student, and who else, if not him, should know the true reasons for the rain!
- Well, you give it! What are the causes of rain! Yes, every schoolchild knows this! At least he should know. Should I tell you about the water cycle in nature? About the fact that clouds are steam, it cools and falls to the ground in the form of raindrops? Or are you asking what they are in a philosophical sense? Like, why does the grass grow, why does it rain, why do people die? Then I can’t say anything, we will only have philosophy in the third year!
Wow, I've caught a very smart student! Although he didn’t really say anything - he didn’t want to talk about the water cycle in nature, and, you see, they weren’t told about the true causes of rain yet! Well, no imagination!
— Reasons for the rain? What's this? Why is it raining? Ah-ah-ah, well, why - the Lord mourns the sins of men, so he comes! It’s true, it’s true, and there’s nothing to smile about! When people were mired in sin, the Lord sent down a worldwide flood on them, and it rained for many days and nights in a row. But only after the Lord promised not to send any more floods did he feel sorry for the people! Since then he has only been crying, mourning our sins, here are the reasons for the rain, it’s time for people to think about how they live!
Well, that’s also a wow version! No one has proven that there cannot be such reasons for rain. Soooo, who's next? Yeah, here’s a schoolboy with a briefcase jumping across the lawn while the adults don’t see and swear.
- I know what causes rain! This is the water cycle in nature, we were told at school, water evaporates from rivers and seas, rises as steam up into the sky, and it’s cold in the sky, where the steam becomes water and flows, back into the seas and rivers. And then back to the sky! Everything seems to be... Ah! Another reason for rain is this: if it doesn’t rain, then all living things on earth will dry out and die, that’s why it rains!
Such a smart guy! I laid everything out as if on shelves. Let's go further, let's ask that little girl over there who, with a thoughtful look, is tormenting the daisy, probably telling fortunes. Love, you know, it’s love even at 8 years old!
- I don’t know the reason for the rain, we haven’t been to school yet... It probably rains when someone is sad, I’m always sad when it rains! And if, for example, you love someone, but they don’t love you, then you are sad, as if all the good things are over...
It’s also quite possible, although usually the opposite happens - and everyone becomes sad. Or maybe, indeed, the reasons for the rain are someone’s universal sadness, gathered at one time on earth...
Okay, let’s not be too sad, we’d better ask that little guy thoughtfully poking around in the sandbox. And what? As is known, the truth speaks through the mouth of a baby.
- Mom didn’t tell me what the reasons for rain are... Why does it rain? I don’t know... Oh, no, I know! Grandma used to tell me that when it rains in the summer, angels pee on us from heaven! That's why I always hide from the rain!
Well, it's time to take stock. Everyone seems to know that rain is a phenomenon caused by the water cycle in nature; some even remember it. But everyone still has their own point of view on what the reasons may be. Of course, I would like to know what the true causes of rain are, but is it really that important? At least we talked to people.
Do you have your own versions - what are the reasons for the rain?
Rain is the most common type atmospheric precipitation. Even in elementary school, students are told where rain comes from. But despite the availability of teacher explanations, many unclear “whys” remain. For example, why is a small cloud capable of pouring down torrents of rain, while black clouds pass by without even splashing? ?
Rain and the water cycle in nature
It all starts with warmth. Solar energy causes water to evaporate from the surfaces of oceans, lakes, seas, rivers, other bodies of water, soil and even plants. Turning into steam, it rises into the air. The force of the wind speeds up the process. Small water particles are not tangible. With high humidity (especially in the tropical zone), you can notice how the bubbles circle around, not descending, but, on the contrary, tending upward.
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Causes of rain (formation of precipitation)
Climatology and meteorology - sciences directly interested in any precipitation, identify 4 main reasons for the appearance of rain:
- Rising air movements
- The presence of water vapor in the air in quantities sufficient to form rain
- Meeting of warm and cold air currents
- Presence of elevated landforms
Rising air movements
The sun is heating up earth's surface, and moisture begins to evaporate from it. The process of evaporation occurs not only directly from the soil, but also from the surface of the ocean, sea, lake, as well as from leaf blades and human skin. All the water that has evaporated is still in the air. But, in accordance with the laws of physics, the heated air begins to slowly rise upward. Along with all the water contained in it.
Important things to remember physical concepts– relative and absolute humidity. Absolute is the amount of water vapor that is already in this moment, is contained in the air. Relative humidity- this is the humidity that exists in relation to what can be at a given temperature. And the last physical law is that the higher the air temperature, the more water vapor it can hold.
There is already some moisture in the rising air currents. But as you move upward, the air temperature drops. Therefore, moisture begins to condense into clouds. When the temperature drops even lower and the cloud can no longer hold the amount of moisture it contains, the excess falls out as rain.
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How do drops form when it rains?
The presence of water vapor in the air in quantities sufficient to form rain
The process is similar to the one described above, only with clarifications. The rule of rain formation works if water vapor has somewhere to come from - from the surface of freshly plowed soil, a river, a lake, or a leaf plate of green cabbage and spinach seedlings. And if we are in the center of the Sahara Desert, then there will be no moisture in the air, no matter how much the sun shines.
We monitor the weather forecast to find out if it is expected to rain and whether to take an umbrella with us. Many people like to walk in the rain, some sleep soundly to the sound of it, others, on the contrary, cannot stand the slush and dampness that it brings. We have observed this phenomenon more than once. So why is it raining?
Cloud Formation
Rain is droplets of water falling from clouds floating across the sky. They come in a wide variety of shapes: giant waves, huge pieces of cotton wool, bird wings, etc. Sometimes the whole sky is covered with a huge dark cloud. Clouds are composed entirely of water droplets or ice crystals. When the earth is heated by the sun's rays, some of the moisture evaporates and rises into the air in the form of steam. Water vapor rises from all reservoirs, rivers, lakes, seas, every blade of grass evaporates water, and a person exhales the vapor. The higher the air temperature and humidity, the large quantity vapor forms and condenses into tiny droplets of water or ice crystals (if the air is cold). This is how clouds are formed. By understanding the mechanism of rain formation, one can control such a great process as
Why It is raining not from all the clouds?
Rain doesn't come from every cloud. For rain to fall, the droplets must be quite large. In the cloud, their sizes gradually increase, water vapor is deposited on small water droplets in the air, and they also merge with each other as they move. A cloud consisting only of water turns into a rain cloud more slowly, but mixed clouds turn into rain clouds faster. Their lower part consists of water, and the upper part consists of ice crystals. That's why it rains or rains. It is these mixed clouds that spill onto the ground in a continuous shower.
What kind of rain is there?
It is customary to divide precipitation into 3 types: showers, drizzle and heavy rains. Many give them more detailed definitions: prolonged, short-term, warm, cold, etc. Rain is often accompanied by snow or hail. It can also be “mushroom”, “blind”, icy, exotic, radioactive and even stellar.
When it's drizzling, there's a dampness in the air, but it's almost impossible to get wet. It is almost invisible, since the water droplets are very small and frequent. They do not form characteristic circles in puddles. With such rain, fog and dampness increase, and visibility deteriorates.
Why is it raining or hailing?
Storm clouds form when warm air masses meet cold air. Extreme heat may also be a cause. The wet soil becomes very hot, and the evaporation forms massive, water-heavy clouds. A rainstorm begins suddenly and ends just as suddenly; it usually does not last long, but it can be very strong. Tropical showers, on the contrary, can be very long. Such rains often cause floods. Rain and hail can only begin in hot weather when there is a lot of moisture in the air. Ice crystals form in cumulonimbus clouds, and when they can no longer be suspended due to their size, they fall to the ground in the form of hail. Large hail even penetrates the roofs of houses and can injure people.
Why is it raining mushrooms?
“Blind” or “mushroom” rain occurs in the summer, in sunny weather. After it, a rainbow almost always appears. According to popular belief, mushrooms begin to grow after such rain, hence its name. This is usually a warm short rain, during which the sun shines.
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