We had a summer rain shower yesterday. Afterwards I could see steam rising off the street as the water evaporated. I could walk barefoot on that street before the shower and while the water was evaporating. If the water was boiling away, surely I wouldn’t be able to walk across it without scalding my foot.
What’s going on here?
In: Planetary Science
Water always evaporates, even when it’s not boiling. Steam is usually invisible in the air, but becomes visible when air is over-saturated with water or suddenly cooled. Evaporating from warmer pavement and then going into cooler air makes it visible.
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