What causes heavy rain?

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The difference between light rain and a torrential downpour depends on several factors.

Starting with the basics
It starts with warm air, which holds tons of moisture. As the air gets warmer and more humid, it becomes very buoyant, meaning it rises with ease. Fact: A 1 degree Fahrenheit increase can mean 4% more moisture. The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold.

Rain forms when warm, moist air rises and condenses into tiny condensation particles. These collide and merge together forming water droplets through a process called coalescence. Once these droplets get too heavy to be supported by a cloud’s rising air, they fall.

This vertical, rising air called an updraft dictates rain intensity. A stronger updraft gives more time for those droplets to form and grow.

Cumulonimbus clouds -- or as we commonly call them, thunderstorms -- have the strongest updrafts and thus the heaviest rain. Falling rain cools the air. This forms a downdraft. This falling air lowers rain intensity and is the reason why a thunderstorm ranges from light at the edges to the heaviest rain at the center.

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