rain

Precipitation of water drops, whose diameter ranges between 0.5 and 6 mm. Exceptionally, somewhat larger drops can form (raindrop). Within the curtains of rain that fall from clouds, there are usually also smaller but very scattered drops, resulting from collisions between the larger ones. Rain does not always reach the ground, as it can evaporate beforehand, in which case we have virga. Contrary to what is generally believed and to the way they are usually drawn, raindrops in their fall do not take the shape of a teardrop, but tend to be spherical. The smaller they are, the more perfectly spherical they are, becoming deformed as they increase in size. There are different types of rain catalogued, according to very diverse criteria. The following ten entries describe the main ones.