Why does it rain?
Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets. When these droplets grow, they eventually become too heavy to stay suspended in the sky and fall to the ground as rain.
Some droplets fall through the cloud and coalesce into raindrops on their way down. As more and more droplets join together they become too heavy and fall from the cloud as rain.
Warm air can hold more moisture than cool air. When the warmer air is cooled and the moisture condenses, it often rains more heavily.
The video and text below explain how rain forms, and the different types of rain that we get in the UK.
Transcript: Why does it rain?