If suddenly thunder struck, gusts of wind resembling a squall swooped in, lightning suddenly struck, then there is no doubt that very heavy rain will follow. Explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language explain that this phenomenon is called a downpour.
Moisture evaporated from the earth's surface condenses and turns into clouds. If a very warm and very wet stream comes up, these cumulonimbus formations threaten to fall down with such rain.
Downpour - what is it?
Meteorologists call heavy rainfall very intense rain, reaching up to 100 mm per hour. Their cradle is the cold fronts of the atmosphere and unstable air masses in them. Moreover, high cloudiness (about 7-9 points) is completely optional for this. Showers are also possible with small (from 4 to 6 points) and even low (2 or 3 points) cloudiness. Depending on this, heavy rains are either strong or weak.
Most often, a downpour lasts a few minutes, less often it lasts an hour or two. And only in tropicallatitudes recorded showers lasting several days. Downpour - the world champion was registered on July 14, 1876, when over 1,000 mm of rain fell on the inhabitants of Cherrapunji (India, Meghalaya) in just a day.
Results
Showers are classified as dangerous natural phenomena, because their consequences are catastrophic:
- Flooding areas.
- Formation of ravines, landslides (displacement of a huge amount of loose rocks), sinkholes.
- Erosion of building foundations and destruction of buildings.
- River flooding, bank erosion.
- In the mountains - the formation of mudflows (mud streams containing stones that flood the valleys).
- Difficulty in transport up to a complete stop.
- Threat to the lives of people and animals that huge masses of water moving at high speeds can knock down and maim.
This is what a downpour is, which differs from the usual harmless rain in that it forces the Ministry of Emergency Situations to be on high alert.
Shower and car
A separate line should highlight the danger of rain for road users. What are the consequences of heavy rains for motorists?
- Reduce visibility.
- Slippery road where driving is difficult.
- Distracting attention from the road with lightning and stunning the driver with thunder.
- Inattentive pedestrians rushing to take cover from the downpour.
- Increased braking distance and the likelihood of skidding.
- Puddles on the road can hide potholes and open manholes.
Figurative meaning of the word
So, we found out what a downpour is in the applied, so to speak, meaning of the word. In a figurative sense, this word is used to denote a huge amount, intense and incessant manifestation of something.
For example, in phrases: under a downpour of machine-gun fire, bring down a downpour of reproaches.
