ELI5: Rain

In this context, rain is the water falling from the sky that tries to cool down the super-hot, sticky air.

Imagine the air is like a giant, sweaty towel that is already too hot and full of water to feel good. When you are in extreme heat and humidity, the air feels like a warm, heavy blanket because it is so full of water vapor that your sweat can’t dry off.

Rain happens when this super-warm, wet air gets pushed up high into the sky where it is cold.

• The warm water vapor turns back into tiny water droplets (like steam turning into water on a cold window).


• These droplets get heavy and fall down as rain.


• When the rain falls, it can splash the hot ground and make the air feel a little cooler, kind of like when you splash water on a hot pan.

So, rain is the sky’s way of letting out all the extra water it was holding when the air got too hot and sticky. It is the fresh water that falls down to help cool things off after a really hot, sweaty day [2].