Drip, drop, drip, drop. Sometimes we like to play in the rain.
Sometimes we want it to go away! But how is rain made?
Water vapour, small drops of water, is always present in the
air. Hot air can hold lots of water vapour.
When air is warm, it rises. As the air rises, it gets colder.
Water starts to condense and become liquid. Clouds are lots of
liquid water droplets collected together.
Sometimes mountains cause air to rise and the water droplets in
the air to condense.
If the clouds are big enough, drops of water bang together and
become even bigger. When the drops get heavy enough, they fall to
the ground as rain.
Try making
your own rain to see this in action!
You can measure the rain with a rain gauge. Compare outside your
house with outside a friend's house. Where does the most rain
fall?