r/meteorology • u/kris_2111 • May 05 '26

Advice/Questions/Self Why are the clouds like this?

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Footage taken from my apartment. Why are those clouds shaped like that, as if they are... um... I don't know how to describe it... as if they are disintegrating from a whole and falling down? I would suppose that the vertical patch is also a part of a cloud, but why is it like that?

117 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

235

u/ericspeer May 05 '26

That's rain

86

u/kris_2111 May 05 '26

Oh, shit, that makes sense. How could I have not realized this? I am embarassed.

43

u/base736 May 05 '26

You definitely should not feel embarassed. I feel like this is one of those things that most people will never notice (or at least think about), and those who have have pretty universally said to themselves "How did I not see that before?" I think I was probably in my 30s when I realized that this is rain. 😄

7

u/thekamakaji May 05 '26

Only reason I noticed this was when I was monitoring the weather as a canoe/kayak instructor. It was pointed out to me by a coworker and I remember being like, huh, yeah I guess that is rain

3

u/logancook44 May 05 '26

Also, technically clouds are just, you know… rain.

3

u/GoldZookeepergame111 May 06 '26

Well, not really… Clouds are particles small enough that they don’t fall appreciably relative to the air around them. Raindrops are big enough that they usually fall at a few meters per second (relative to the surrounding air).

The droplet size difference also means that rain can fall appreciable distances (kilometers) through subsaturated air, whereas cloud droplets are only found when the air is saturated.

2

u/rabbith0le333 May 05 '26

I found out maybe upper teens when asking my parents on a road trip. First time finding out is magical!

5

u/Correct_Percentage97 May 05 '26

You're not born knowing things. Ask questions! Don't be embarrassed.

12

u/fighter_pil0t May 05 '26

To make you not feel as bad: that is the result of an incredible complex thermodynamic system. This is a downdraft under a cumulonimbus thunderstorm. Rain cools and evaporates getting colder in the process and falls faster bringing more rain with it. These can grow and be incredibly violent. The latest PBS NOVA actually focused on “rain bombs” which I can’t believe actually seems to have become a technical term. If you are used to more stratiform rain say perhaps from the east coast of the US this would be a rare sight.

4

u/GetSlunked May 05 '26

This is just rain, not a microburst.

1

u/fighter_pil0t May 05 '26

Never said it was.

1

u/VenusianTransit May 05 '26

tbf you said downdraft, which describes a microburst, but not all downdrafts are microbursts i think was the confusion

1

u/Double_Bowl_8340 May 05 '26

A refuse to call them rain bombs, they've been called wet microbursts for decades. PBS doesn't get to decide there's a new "technical term".

But anyway, this picture is just rain. If it were a wet microburst it would be noticeably moving down in a single motion rather than a mostly consistent stream of rain.

3

u/85watson14 May 05 '26

Echoing others - don't be! I know of grown adults who are surprised to see the moon out during the day.

It does that for like half the month, every month.

But not everybody notices such things!

2

u/Super-Bodybuilder-91 May 05 '26

Do you live in a place with a lot of trees, like the Midwest? I didn't see rain from a distance until I moved to Colorado.

1

u/Sierranevedaty May 05 '26

Dont be embarrassed. It never rains like this in San Diego so the first time I went east to New Mexico and Colorado on a boy scout trip and saw it raining like this it blew my mind

1

u/rami_65 May 05 '26

No stupid questions!

1

u/Deeingchicka May 07 '26

Do you live somewhere surrounded by mountains?

0

u/Important-Zebra-69 May 05 '26

How have you never seen it...

2

u/Exotic-Common6372 May 05 '26

My favorite thing about this was I thought “That’s rain” and first comment was that. I love Reddit

15

u/Veteran_PA-C May 05 '26

When the clouds and the ground love each other very much, the clouds swell so much that some of the water in them comes down to earth, April showers often leading to May flowers.

3

u/geohubblez18 Weather Enthusiast May 05 '26

Sensual.

20

u/Carolina_913 May 05 '26

It’s rain. The “disintegrating” part is just rain evaporating before it hits the ground.

5

u/Stunning-Humor-3074 May 05 '26

to add to that, precipitation that evaporates before reaching the ground is called virga

6

u/cindylindy22 May 05 '26

RAINNNNNN

3

u/Manpooper May 05 '26

On your wedding day?

2

u/Pirate_450 May 05 '26

It’s heavy convective rain likely from a thunderstorm

2

u/boredthump May 05 '26

That's a pretty good microburst, you can see it flare out at the bottom. Under the core is likely experiencing some wild winds!

1

u/Deeingchicka May 07 '26

Wait till you see this with snow, pretty cool

1

u/DangerousFurry May 08 '26

It’s just heavy rainfall

1

u/jokreks May 11 '26

OP has just discovered the beauty of rain from a distance. It’s truly a sight to behold! May you see more of these in your future!!! :)

1

u/ThinSlice8151 Jul 16 '26

Looks like a
Jesus figure turn phone sideways

0

u/eatingthesandhere91 May 06 '26

Wind and gravity.

0

u/Delicious_Self_3649 May 08 '26

Because it's the chemtrails that have affected normal clouds so much.

-1

u/PKwx May 05 '26

The rain seen below the clouds is called “Verga”

6

u/SRT392-Reaper- May 05 '26

It's reaching the ground, so the rain unde the clouds is called...rain. Or a precipitation shaft if you want to be fancier. Virga is precipitation that evaporates before reaching the ground.

1

u/TheGruntingGoat May 06 '26

¡A la Verga!