Rain VS Showers

 

What the heck is the difference between the terms Rain and Showers.

When you hear or see showers on the forecast do you think, there won’t be very much and when you the term rain is used do you think, it will be soaking?

The difference between the two is kind of tricky and subtle. There is no doubt that showers are indeed rain. Taking at face value the term rain or showers, has nothing to do with how much precipitation is going to fall. Instead it tells you how it is going to fall. It has to do with the type of cloud they come from.

What are showers?

A shower is a short duration event, that can last a couple of minutes to perhaps 15 minutes or so. But they can sometime last over half an hour. They typically start quickly and end quickly. There can be heavy downpours when dealing with showers.

Showers come from Cumuliform clouds - Cumulus or Cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) the puffy ones that look like they are bubbling up. often separated by blue sky. Showers are pushed around by the wind, so you only experience a particular shower if you are in its path Since they are hit and miss, your house could be getting wet, while your next-door neighbor could be dry. Cumulus normally result in lower totals while amounts can get quite high from Cumulonimbus.

The customary way of talking about them is isolated showers or scattered/widespread showers. Because they are hit and miss you will never see 100% chance of showers.

Cumulus 

Cumulonimbus

Cumulonimbus

What is rain?

Rain is a moderate to long duration event. That can last for a couple of hours to all day. It typically starts gradually then ramps up and ends gradually.

Rain comes from Stratiform clouds- Altostratus and Nimbostratus. These types of clouds are more or less featureless and cover the sky in a grey, widespread sheet, with little to no blue sky to be seen, and of the two, Nimbostratus is thicker and produces heavier rains.

Rain covers a wide area, so most or everyone over a large area are getting wet. Rain can come down lightly or heavily. Because of its long-lasting duration, it can lead to flooding issues.

Altostratus 

Nimbostratus

Well if some of y’all were confused by the two terms, I hope this clears it up.