Eli5: How exactly do clouds rain? Does the temperature get cold so it condenses?
In: 2
Humid air getting cold enough for water to condense is how you get a cloud in the first place. Clouds are tiny suspended droplets of *liquid* water.
Rain falls when enough water condenses out that those droplets begin to combine and become heavy enough that air currents can’t support them anymore.
Specks of dust or pollen carried up into the air create what are known as condensation nuclei or basically something for the water droplet to form around when that droplet becomes too heavy it rains.
No. The cloud gets so dense that the water can no longer overcome gravity and stay airborne with the updrafts. so it falls as rain.