Sean
Why does it rain?
It rains when droplets of water in the clouds grow so large that they become too heavy to stay suspended in the air due to gravity. Then the droplets fall from the clouds as rain.
Rain is essentially the clouds themselves falling to the surface of Earth one heavy water droplet at a time. After a rainstorm, what remains in the clouds is the water vapor and the smaller droplets that weren’t pulled to the Earth by gravity.
What are clouds?
Clouds are a mixture of water vapor and water droplets that coalesce in the atmosphere around specks of dust. The vapor and droplets coalesce because the polarity of the water molecules causes them to attract each other and pull each other all together to form the large bodies of visible moisture we see as clouds. The formation of clouds is known as cloud development.
What is the difference between fog and clouds?
There is no difference between fog and clouds other than altitude. A cloud is called fog when it is lower than 50 feet from the Earth’s surface.
What is humidity and how does it relate to rain?
Contrary to popular belief, the humidity that is reported in the news is not a clear indicator of whether or not it will rain. This humidity is a measure of how much moisture is in the air at the Earth’s surface. Rainfall happens based on the moisture conditions in the atmosphere, not at the surface.
What is dew?
Dew is just water vapor that condenses onto plants and other surfaces on cold, humid mornings.
