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Rain, some interesting facts

Rain, some interesting facts.

Without rain The London Brolly Bag company would not exist, that is a fact!

While chatting with a dear friend she gave me the idea to write about rain in this month’s blog.

So here we go.  I started doing my home work and this is what I came up with. I hope I won’t bore you with these facts. 

I’ll start with the basics:

What is rain? 

According to the Met Office the simplest definition of rain is drops of liquid water falling from the sky. This happens when clouds which are made of droplets become too heavy to stay suspended and thus fall to earth as rain.  

Types of rain… there are four types.

Rain: it occurs when both the cloud temperature and ground temperature are above zero

 

Snow: it occurs when the temperature on both the ground and in the clouds is below zero Celsius.

Sleet: it occurs when the temperature in the clouds is warmer than that on the ground.

Hail: it occurs when rain encounters a layer of freezing air on its way to the ground and solidifies into ice pellets known as hailstones.

 

Wettest month on record in the UK.

According to the Met Office, February 2020 was the wettest month on record  with 202.1mm of rainfall. This was the result of three consecutive storms, namely Ciara, Dennis and Jorge bombarding the UK in quick succession. 

Why are there April showers in April?

April Showers do exist.  It is a month of transition from cold winter days to warmer light days and the jet stream moves northwards.  In addition it is the time of year where there is a disparity with the land becoming warmer and the sea is still cold causing shower clouds to form. So even though it may not be a very wet month, April is associated with many showers. 

Is collecting rainwater illegal in the UK?

I had never thought about this until  I started doing my research.

It is legal to harvest rainfall and encouraged by the water authorities. however there are standards and regulations that apply. In the US it’s an  entirely different story.  In some states homeowners do not own the rainfall that falls on their property.

Where is the wettest  place in England?

Apparently Seathwaite, a small hamlet in the Lake District, is the wettest populated area in England with annual rainfall reaching 3,552 mm.

Which is the wettest city in Great Britain?

Cardiff holds that title with annual rainfall reaching 1152 mm.  

How many songs have Rain in the title?

I was surprised to see that apparently 153 songs have Rain in their titles.

I’m not going to list them here, but my favourite is It’s Raining Men by the Weather Girls.

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed reading some rain trivia.