University at Buffalo (UB)
By Matthew Sedacca, Katy Schneider, and Clint Carter
Purchasing an expensive umbrella can feel like a dicey investment: They’re easy to lose and easier to steal. Yet a good one, like the Davek Elite, which ranked No. 1 in our guide to finding the nicest-looking and sturdiest umbrella on the market, is so far superior to its cheaper counterparts that it’s worth the price. It’s handsome, sure, but the real clincher is its ability to withstand the poorest of conditions. The fiberglass-ribbed frame holds firm in gusts, and the canopy is so protective it seems to create its own temperature-controlled atmosphere. And if that isn’t enough: The company offers a lifetime guarantee and will replace the umbrella if it’s stolen (yes, really) at half the original price.
As most relatively informed fourth-graders know, there’s a fairly simple chain of events that leads to wet stuff intermittently falling out of the sky. When air rises, it cools, according to Stuart Evans, an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo and expert in atmospheric science. “And when it cools,” he says, “the humidity increases until you get to saturation; this is the point at which water droplets start to form (but not fall, yet). An updraft keeps those water droplets up in the air, where they bump into each other and ultimately merge together. They continue to grow fatter through these collisions, until they’re big enough to fall out of the sky.” And there you go. That’s rain.
New York Media
Published April 1, 2019