During the year, a large amount of rainfall falls on the earth. Depending on the season, people rejoice in the rain, or curse the vagaries of the weather. And how many verses have been written about this natural phenomenon - and not count! We reward rain with various epithets, but what do we know about this phenomenon scientifically? For example, what is overcast and heavy rain? Let's talk about this in the next publication.
The relationship between cloud shape and rain
We do not live in the rainiest place in the world. However, our country cannot be called the most cloudless. From childhood we were taught to observe nature, many of us wrote down our observations in a special diary. Now such knowledge is useful for travelers and gardeners, for all people who want to know what surprises to expect from nature in the near foreseeable future.
Despite the fact that folk signs have existed for a long time, scientific observation of precipitation has been conducted for only a few centuries. Meteorologists have established an exact relationship between the shape of the clouds and the characteristics of precipitation. Before we learn what rain means, let’s talk a little about the mechanism of precipitation.
Atmospheric phenomena and processes
For only two hundred years, humanity knows about the types of precipitation, classifications and their names. The droplets emerging in the clouds live so little before spilling on the ground. But meteorologists studied in detail the mechanism of the origin of the phenomenon. For example, to understand the nature of enlargement of droplets, it is necessary to know the laws of thermodynamics and physics.
So, in thin clouds that are visible in the light, only small drizzling droplets can arise - such that they do not reach the ground and evaporate right in the air. A multi-kilometer thick cloud is capable of producing large drops of light. Such drops form a characteristic rain noise. It is he who we love to listen to during the summer day.
Heavy rain is the most unloved phenomenon
However, there is another category of rain. Long, gloomy and hopeless rains, perhaps the most unloved phenomenon of nature. Such rain can rain all day, or even several days, bringing with it a dull and gloomy mood. In such weather, you least want to leave the house.
Heavy rain is rainfall that originates in a gray shroud of miles of clouds. Sometimes this gloomy veil is able to capture sections of several hundred kilometers. Even with gusty and strong winds, clouds are not able to dissipate in a few hours. Therefore, it can rain for days. In this regard, people reward this phenomenon with the most gloomy and prickly epithets.
Spoiled summer holidays
We have already said that prolonged, tedious rain of medium intensity is very common in the autumn season. However, nature presents surprises at any time of the year, and we do not know how to relate to them and how to understand them. Heavy rain can be in the summer. Only in this case will the rest be spoiled. July overcast raises a noticeable drop in temperature, which means that the swimming season may end too soon.
Lack of crop
Gardeners also do not favor this type of rainfall, they prefer hot, heavy, but fleeting showers. If summer is accompanied by heavy rains, the soil for a long time remains cold and wet, which means you can not dream of a good harvest. Heavy rain is a serious test for agriculture in general. With such vagaries of nature, the grain yield is noticeably reduced, the fruits do not have time to ripen. Perhaps only weeds adapted to such conditions of existence. In Russia, before, summer periods with prolonged hopeless rains were observed. And in the 16th century, the dominance of gloomy rainy days was observed over the whole of Europe, resulting in a natural disaster. Our ancestors and noted this in their annals - "sputum exorbitant."
It's time, sung by poets
But autumn laid-on rain is a more familiar phenomenon, which is even sung by poets. At this time, clouds go low, and the diameter of the drops is only a few millimeters. Medium drops, which spill out one after another with great frequency, are able to form “strings of rain”. This is a very beautiful phenomenon when precipitation forms a kind of wall. But if at this time you go out onto the street without an umbrella, then you are unlikely to get wet very much, because the intensity of surface rain does not exceed the intensity of drizzling rain. Scientists estimate that, on average, this type of rainfall pours only a quarter cup of water per square meter onto the soil. However, if the rainy weather has established for a week, or even more, there is not much to enjoy.
Comparison of showers and rain
Now it’s time to find out how rain differs from overburden. Showers are born suddenly, but recently, when weather forecasters have learned to predict the weather, a storm warning is most often given for this type of rainfall . The fact is that sudden and heavy rain showers, despite their transience, are accompanied by thunderstorms and squally gusts of wind. Sometimes cumulonimbus clouds can also become a natural disaster, only in the literal sense of the word. Strong winds and hurricanes often uproot trees, damage power lines, and damage residential buildings and agriculture.
If surface rain is established over the entire region, then rain clouds can be characterized by local formation. That is why even in a small town in one area there may be rainfall, and in another it will be dry at the same time. True, such showers take only a few minutes and do no harm to the household, leaving behind only freshness.