Is it a heavenly gift or a natural disaster?

During the year, a lot of precipitation falls on the earth. Depending on the season, people are happy with the rain, then curse the vagaries of the weather. And how many poems are written about this phenomenon of nature - and not count! We reward the rain with various epithets, but what do we know about this phenomenon from a scientific point of view? For example, what is a hard and heavy rain? Let's talk about this in another publication.

The relationship between cloud form and rain

We do not live in the rainiest place in the world. However, our country can not be called cloudless either. Since childhood we have been taught to observe nature, many of us recorded their 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 future. Despite the fact that people's signs have existed for a long time, scientific observation of precipitation is only a few centuries. Meteorologists have established an exact relationship between the shape of clouds and the characteristics of precipitation. Before you know what it means to rain, let's talk a little about the mechanism of precipitation.

Atmospheric phenomena and processes

Just two hundred years, mankind knows about what types of precipitation, classifications and their names exist. Drops that originate in the clouds live so little before they spill onto the ground. But meteorologists have studied in detail the mechanism of the origin of the phenomenon. For example, in order to understand the nature of the enlargement of drops, it is necessary to know the laws of thermodynamics and physics. So, in thin clouds that are visible at the lumen, 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 can produce large drops. Such drops form a characteristic sound of rain. That's what we like so much to listen to during the summer.

A hard rain is the most unloved phenomenon

However, there is another category of rains. Prolonged, gloomy and hopeless rains, perhaps, the most unloved phenomenon of nature. Such rain can go all day, and even a few days, carrying with it a dull and gloomy mood. In this weather, the least I want to leave the house. A hard rain is precipitation, which is born in a gray cloud of many kilometers. Sometimes this gloomy shroud can seize plots several hundred kilometers away. Even in the presence of gusty and strong wind clouds can not dissipate in a few hours. Therefore, a hard rain can go on for days. In this regard, people reward this phenomenon with the most gloomy and tiny epithets.

Spoiled summer vacation

We have already said that a long, 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 treat them and how to understand them. A hard rain can be summer. Only in this case the rest will be spoiled. July hard rains carry a noticeable drop in temperature, which means that the swimming season may end too early.

Lack of harvest

Gardeners also do not favor such a type of precipitation, hot, abundant but transient downpours are preferred for them. If the summer is accompanied by severe rains, the soil for a long time remains cold and damp, which means that you can not dream of a good harvest. A hard rain is a serious test for agriculture as a whole. With such vagaries of nature, the yield of cereals is noticeably lower, fruits do not have time to ripen. To these conditions of life, perhaps, weeds have adapted. In Russia, there were earlier summer periods with prolonged gloomy rains. And in the 16th century, over the whole of Europe, domination of gloomy rainy days was observed, pouring out into the present natural disaster. Our ancestors and noted it in their chronicles - "sputum exorbitant."

It's time, sung by poets

But autumn autumn rain is a more usual phenomenon, which is even sung by poets. At this time, the clouds are low, and the diameter of the drops is only a few millimeters. Medium drops, which pour out one after another with a high frequency, can form "filaments of rain." This is a very beautiful phenomenon, when precipitation forms a kind of wall. But if at this time you go to the street without an umbrella, then you are unlikely to get very wet, because the intensity of the hard rain is not much higher than the intensity of the drizzling rain. Scientists have calculated that on average this type of precipitation pours on the ground only a quarter of a glass of water per square meter. However, if the rainy weather is established for a week, or even more - a pleasant little.

Comparison of showers and severe rains

Now it's time to find out what is the difference between rain and rain. Showers are born suddenly, but recently, when weather forecasters have learned to predict the weather, this type of precipitation is often given a storm warning. The fact is that sudden and abundant torrential rains, despite their fleetingness, are accompanied by thunderstorms and squally gusts of wind. Sometimes cumulonimbus cloudiness can also become a natural disaster, only in the literal sense of the word. Strong winds and hurricanes often rotate trees, damage power lines, damage residential buildings and agriculture.

If a hard rain is established over the whole region, storm clouds can be characterized by local formation. That's why even in a small town in one area there can be a downpour, and in another one at the same time it will be dry. True, such showers go on time only a few minutes and do not bring any harm to the household, leaving behind only freshness.