Rain vs Showers - What is the Difference?

What is the difference between rain and showers? 🌧 ☔️ .

It’s a wet Wednesday in the Kelowna area as a result of a weather system that is directing moisture into our region. So I thought it would be a great day to explain RAIN vs SHOWERS.

Both rain and showers are drops of liquid falling from the sky. The difference between the two is the DURATION. When a meteorologist uses the term ‘showers’, they expect breaks between the precipitation, but ‘rain’ falls for longer periods of time (typically at least an hour or more).

Here in the #Okanagan valley, we generally see showery conditions, whereas on the coastal areas like the Lower Mainland, rain is more prominent and can last for hours at a time. This is all because here in the valley, we live on the leeward side of the Coastal Mountains, and these large geographic landforms often have the ability to break up the precipitation, especially during a westerly influenced flow. You may have heard the term ‘rain shadow’, which describes an area that has relatively less precipitation on the leeward side of a topographic barrier, such as a mountain.

Side note : anyone else dealing with really frizzy hair today ?? 🤪
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#weather #cloudy  #rain #storm #seasons #sunny #May2020 #May #kelowna #okanagan #dry #showers #precipitation #meteorology #weslaweather #wx #statistics #climate #nowyouknow #weatherwednesday #hairfrizz #frizzyhair #weather #rainshadow #mountains .