Rain – amazing natural phenomenon
Rain is the liquid form of water that falls from the sky in drops. Rain fills lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. It provides the freshwater needed by humans, animals, and plants. Rain is a part of Earth’s endless water cycle.
It may sound a paradox, but it is actually rain that keeps the earth dry. If the moisture was not taken out of the air and formed into clouds, it would condense on every solid surface. We would feel as if we were in a steam bath.
Rain falls almost everywhere on Earth. One of the world’s rainiest places is Mount Waialeale in Hawaii. It rains about 350 days a year there. One of the driest places on Earth is the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The Sahara desert in Africa is very dry. Rain never falls on some parts of it. It is true that clouds pass over those areas and actually drop rain but the rain never touches the ground. The heat of the desert air evaporates the moisture as it falls.
Sometimes it rains insects, seeds, worms, fishes and even frogs. Scientists explain this phenomenon in the following way: spawn is sucked up into the air from the lakes and rivers by whirlwinds. They are very light and are carried through the air for great distances. Then they hatch in the air. When the wind loses its force the small animals are dropped to the earth.
There have been cases of fish weighing as much as 3 pounds falling from the sky in the course of a storm. They were also pushed out of water by waterspouts and tornadoes.
Rain washes dust and dirt from the air. But rain itself is not always pure. Sometimes polluting chemicals from cars, factories, and power plants become trapped in clouds. The rain from these clouds contains those harmful chemicals. This polluted rain, known as acid rain, can damage plants, animals, people, and property.
Interesting facts
– The rain is a good reason not to go to work in Portugal.
– In the city of Para it rains every day at the same time.
– The game of darts appeared because of rain. Once it was raining during the competition of archers. So, they went to the pub and started throwing shortened arrows at a target on the wall.
– In the XVII century in the UK there was a law about rain. According to it a weather forecaster, whose prediction of rain was incorrect, was executed.
– The rainiest places on the planet are experiencing a shortage of water in the winter. After the rainy season comes so arid winter that residents have to buy water in other cities.
– In the town of Gopalganj (Bangladesh) in 1986, the rain turned into a downpour of hail. The weight of one piece of ice reached one kilogram. 92 people became victims of the rain.
– It’s not very nice to be in the rain in the Marshall Islands, where one drop is 1 centimeter in diameter.