Shower
Precipitation & snow showery precipitation
A shower is precipitation that often starts suddenly, changes intensity quickly and affects a limited area. It may bring rain, snow, graupel or hail.
Dry a moment ago, wet already
Showers usually develop from growing convective clouds. Air rises and cools, forming cloud droplets or ice. Once particles grow large enough, they fall as precipitation. Sunshine may continue between the clouds.
How showers differ from steady rain
- Showers: Often localised, with changing intensity and abrupt starts and stops.
- Steady rain: Often comes from broad cloud layers and lasts longer across a larger area.
“Showers” does not mean “a little rain”. A brief shower can be heavy. Several cells crossing the same place in succession can also keep it wet for quite a while.
Why the neighbours stayed dry
Only a few kilometres may separate heavy rain from dry ground. This explains some apparently wrong forecasts: the shower did occur, just in the next street or district. Its exact path is harder to predict than that of a broad rain area.
What helps with planning
For the next few minutes, radar and nowcasts show where precipitation is moving. Newly developing or rapidly fading showers remain difficult. Lightning and thunder introduce a thunderstorm hazard; the relevant warning then matters more than rainfall amount alone.