Scientists explain causes of abrupt rain storms

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Scientists found that cumulus clouds can create rain showers in a matter of minutes when atmospheric turbulence exceeds a threshold greatly increasing the rate of droplet collisions. Credit: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists found that cumulus clouds can create rain showers in a matter of minutes when atmospheric turbulence exceeds a threshold, greatly increasing the rate of droplet collisions. Credit: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

No two rain storms are alike. Dark clouds may form slowly throughout the day before a drop of rain falls, and sunny days can suddenly transform into thunderstorms. Different societies throughout history have held their own explanations for the behavior of weather – from human rituals to godly intervention – and now physicists from the U.K. and Sweden tackle one of the weirder weather phenomena: the abrupt rainfall often observed from cumulus clouds.


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