What do you know about RAIN??????

Rain is a kind of precipitation. Precipitation is any kind of water that falls from clouds in the sky, like rain, hail, sleet and snow. It is measured by a rain gauge. Rain is part of the water cycle.

Clouds will often absorb smoke to create rain, commonly referred to as "nature's laundry" due to this process, some places have frequent rain and some have little rain. This makes deserts.

A rainstorm is a sudden heavy fall of rain. It may cause flash floods in valleys. Heavy rain for a long time may make floods that destroy houses and drown people. Also, landslides may happen. There are three main types of rainfall.

1.      Convectional Rainfall

2.      Cyclonic/Frontal Rainfall

3.      Orographic/Relief Rainfall

Convectional Rainfall

When the Sun heats the Earth's surface, the ground heats the air above it. The air expands and forced to rise to great height. As the air rises, it cools and becomes saturated and dew point temperature (the temperature at which water vapour in the air condense (gas-liquid)) is attained and then clouds will form. By further cooling, precipitation takes place. Turbulence in the atmosphere and surface obstructions such as hills and mountains provide the initial upward push for the air. This rainfall occurs throughout the year near the equator daily in the afternoon. In middle latitudes, convectional rainfall occurs in early summer, in continental interiors.

Orographic/Relief Rainfall

It usually occurs along coastal areas where a line of hills runs along the coast. When wet onshore wind from the sea meets a mountain, hill or any other sort of landform barrier, it is forced to rise along the slope and cools. When the air temperature falls to its dew point, water vapour condenses to form clouds. When the clouds can no longer hold the water droplets, relief rain begins to fall on the windward slope of the mountain. On the leeward side, air sinks, it is warmed and further dried by compression. Therefore, the leeward slope is known as the rain shadow region. Moist winds blow in from the sea and are forced to rise over the land. The air cools and the water vapour condenses, forming raindrops.

Frontal/Cyclonic Rainfall

This type of precipitation associated with a cyclonic activity and occurs along the frontal zone (front is a narrow zone of transition, dividing two air masses of differing temperature and humidity characteristics, intersecting the earth's surface). It happens when cooler air and warmer, humid air meet in a weather front. The less-dense warm air rises and condenses forming clouds. These clouds grow and eventually create rain. In some places on the northern temperate zone the cold air front tends to come from the north-west and the warm air front comes from the south-west.