How Rain Works

Full transcript

It all starts with the sun shining down on oceans, lakes, and rivers, warming the water on the surface and turning it into an invisible gas called water vapor. This warm water vapor rises high into the sky, where the air is much colder, and the vapor begins to cool down and slow down significantly. As the vapor cools, it turns back into tiny liquid water droplets that cluster together around small dust particles floating in the air, forming clouds. Over time, more and more droplets join together inside the cloud, growing heavier and heavier until the cloud simply cannot hold them up any longer. When the droplets become too heavy, gravity pulls them downward and they fall from the cloud toward the ground as raindrops, which is what we call precipitation. The rainwater flows into rivers, soaks into the soil, and refills the lakes and oceans, ready to be warmed by the sun again and repeat this amazing never-ending cycle.