Rain
Precipitation has many forms. The one form I have experience is rain. Rain develops when growing cloud droplets become too heavy to remain in the cloud and as a result, fall toward the surface as rain. Rain can also begin as ice crystals that collect each other to form large snowflakes. As the falling snow passes through the freezing level into warmer air, the flakes melt and collapse into rain drops. Before it can rain, there must moisture or humidity in the air. In order for there to be moisture in the air, water must evaporate. The air is most moist by the oceans and to a lesser extent large lakes like the Great Lakes. Air flows over these large bodies of water picking up moisture as it evaporates off the surface. The air then flows over the land and to us it feels like a form of humidity. If air rises, such as up a mountain slope, or when encountering a cold front or warm front, the air cools and the moisture condenses into clouds and rain. As a result, areas near oceans and lakes, and areas where the air flows off an ocean and up a mountain, are likely to get a lot of rain. Where weather fronts are seen those areas will have a lot of rain. Other areas that are near mountains will not see rain as much an example is our home state Arizona. The downsides of the mountain meteorologist call this a "rain shadow." This occurs because most of the moisture falls out as rain as the air rises up the one side of the mountain. Then, the air dries as it descends down the other side. This is another reason why Arizona and much of the Rocky Mountain region is much drier than other places in the country.
Precipitation has many forms. The one form I have experience is rain. Rain develops when growing cloud droplets become too heavy to remain in the cloud and as a result, fall toward the surface as rain. Rain can also begin as ice crystals that collect each other to form large snowflakes. As the falling snow passes through the freezing level into warmer air, the flakes melt and collapse into rain drops. Before it can rain, there must moisture or humidity in the air. In order for there to be moisture in the air, water must evaporate. The air is most moist by the oceans and to a lesser extent large lakes like the Great Lakes. Air flows over these large bodies of water picking up moisture as it evaporates off the surface. The air then flows over the land and to us it feels like a form of humidity. If air rises, such as up a mountain slope, or when encountering a cold front or warm front, the air cools and the moisture condenses into clouds and rain. As a result, areas near oceans and lakes, and areas where the air flows off an ocean and up a mountain, are likely to get a lot of rain. Where weather fronts are seen those areas will have a lot of rain. Other areas that are near mountains will not see rain as much an example is our home state Arizona. The downsides of the mountain meteorologist call this a "rain shadow." This occurs because most of the moisture falls out as rain as the air rises up the one side of the mountain. Then, the air dries as it descends down the other side. This is another reason why Arizona and much of the Rocky Mountain region is much drier than other places in the country. 
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