Tuesday 28th April

Good day everyone. What a change in the weather! I had got quite used to all of the sunshine, and now it is raining. I will need to find my umbrella before I go out for my daily exercise.

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. Have you heard that little song? I often sing it, especially when it means we have to call a wet breaktime at school. But, as much as the rain might annoy us because it stops us from doing things outside, it is really important to the earth and to us. Without it we could not survive.

Rain is droplets of water that fall from the clouds. How are there water droplets in the sky? The earth’s water cycle pulls water from the ground, rivers, oceans, lakes and streams up into the sky. This is called evaporation.

The evaporated water is warm when it leaves the earth’s surface, but the farther up into the sky or atmosphere it goes, the cooler it gets. As it cools, it clumps together - forming clouds. When the clouds become to heavy or full, and when other things happen with the winds and air in the atmosphere, gravity causes the rain to fall from the sky.

Water falling from the sky is called precipitation. The precipitation that falls from the sky isn’t always rain, but it is always water. Depending on the temperature of the surface and the air nearest the surface of the earth, precipitation can also be: snow (the stuff you build snowmen with); sleet (the stuff that looks like snow as it falls from the sky, but leaves you feeling disappointed when you realise it’s just slushy, freezing rain); hail (don’t get caught in a hail shower, it hurts, these balls of ice are formed high up in the atmosphere and they become too heavy and fall to the ground. Hail can be as small as a pea or as large as grapefruit - hail can cause damage to cars).

So why is rain so important to the earth and us? The rain waters the earth, refills streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans and provides the moisture trees and plants use to make their food. As much as I am moaning about the rain, it will help my seeds to grow and my grass had started to look a bit yellow! The water in the oceans is home to millions of sea creatures and the water in the streams, rivers, and lakes are home to the fresh-water fish and other water animals. This water also gives wild animals the water they need to drink.

Here is a dirty rain fact: rain is not always clean and clear water. Especially in the city or in places where there are factories that put smoke and other things into the water and/or air. The dirt, dust, and chemicals in the air (pollution) travel up into the atmosphere during the process of evaporation. These tiny particles become part of the clouds, which … you guessed it…also makes them part of the rain that falls. So next time your teacher tells you not to stand under the drain pipe, with your mouth open (I have seen you doing it), you will know they are saying no for a reason. There is a huge difference in the quality of rain collected from a quiet forest, compared to rain water collected from a city. I wonder if the current decrease in the amount of traffic on the roads will have a positive impact on the quality of our rain water? What do you think?

We continue to miss you all so much.

Stay safe.