Rain, rain.. and
more rain..
Since we are having a very rainy few days, I
thought I would enlighten you all with some rain facts.
Did you know that the place that gets the least
amount of rain is Antarctica. It only receives about 6.5 inches of rain or snow
in a year. This makes it the lowest annual rainfall of any other place on
earth.
In comparison, Mawsynram (located in
Meghalaya India) gets the most rain per year, approximately 11,871 mm (or roughly
39 feet). In fact, villagers use grass to soundproof their huts because of the
deafening sound of the rain that pelts their homes. Now that is a lot of rain, for sure, but it occurs
mostly during the monsoon season.
Coming
in a close 3rd place is Mount Waialeale in Hawaii. It gets about 11,500
mm of rain. The difference is that it rains approximately 355 days a year. Its
top is almost always covered with clouds, it is, however, beautiful.
Not all rain drops are made of water. Rain on
Venus is made of sulphuric acid. On Saturn’s moon Titan, is fall as methane.
Scientists have even found raindrops made of iron on a planet 5,000 light years
away.
Then there is what is called “phantom rain’. In
very hot, dry places, sometimes the rain evaporates before it hits the ground.
You could see curtains of rain coming down from the sky, but never making it
all the way.
Here’s some good info for a day like today:
scientists have found a way to stay drier in the rain. RUN! LOL yep, it seems
the faster you get out of the rain, the drier you will be, amazing isn’t it..
You can also look up to the clouds to predict
whether it is going to rain. If you see a Cumulonibus cloud (which is a tall,
puffy cloud that looks flat on the top) or if you see a nimbostratus cloud (a
flat, low gray cloud), you can pretty much bet it’s going to rain in the near
future.
Raindrops don’t actually look like teardrops.
It is more flat on the bottom and rounded on the top, sort of like a hamburger
bun. This is because of the speed in which they fall, which can range from 18 –
22 miles ( 29 – 35 klm) per hour.
Raindrops range in size from 0.1 mm to 9 mm in
diameter. The largest raindrops recorded were in Brazil in 2004 at 10 mm.
In every minute 1 billon tons of rain fall on
the earth.
An estimated 16 million thunderstorms roam the Earth each year, which
breaks down to nearly 44,000 rumbling across the planet each day.
Rain drops contain dissolved nitrogen which it
gets from the air. Because this is a natural fertilizer, our grass always looks
greener after a rainfall.
Of course with rain come the beautiful
phenomena of rainbows. A rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of
water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again
when leaving it. It
also appears directly opposite the sun.
In a primary
rainbow, the colors will be in the order of red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo and violet.When a double rainbow occurs, the colors in the second arc will be in reverse.
So have a great rainy week-end!
