Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1859 — How a Rain Cloud Forms. [ARTICLE]

How a Rain Cloud Forms.

Professor Wise, describing his last baloon voyage, says: “We plainly saw that the south-east wind blew, which drove us a little north-east at starting, had now supplied the atmosphere with moisture enough to make a growing rain cloud. Slowly but interestingly the vapor assumed a milky hue. Presently it assumed the appearance of a vasicular cloud; then it spread out and bulged down in the middle, and soon it had the appearance of a great udder, with the water oozing through it, but more copiously at and around its protuberant center. It was an interesting phenomenon, and it seemed as though nature was unbosoming her mammal to give the thursty earth some sustenance. I have noticed these udders and water-spouts before.”