Why does it rain heavily but ends quickly while less heavy rain last a long time?

Question

Why does it rain heavily but ends quickly while less heavy rain last a long time?

In: Other

Answer 1

Rain comes from clouds. Clouds are like buckets. To empty a bucket, you can dump it all out at once (heavy rain) or let it trickle out (light rain). Letting it trickle out takes longer, so the rain lasts longer.

This is an imperfect analogy, but it works for eli5.