Umbrellas, rubber boots, and puddles all belong to wet, rainy weather. Sunglasses, sunscreen, and picnic blankets are for bright, dry days when the sun is shining.

Heat from the sun causes liquid water to evaporate, changing it into water vapor — an invisible gas that rises into the air.

Stratus clouds spread out in flat, gray sheets that hang low and can cover the entire sky, often making the day look dull and overcast.

Sleet starts as raindrops, but it passes through a freezing layer of cold air on the way down, turning into hard little pellets of ice before hitting the ground.

A meteorologist is a weather scientist who uses tools like satellites and radar to study the sky and tell people what weather is coming.

A thermometer has a number scale and a liquid (or digital sensor) that rises with heat, so we can read the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius.

True — that step is called evaporation, and it is the first step that moves water from lakes and oceans up into the sky to form clouds.

False — fluffy cumulus and wispy cirrus clouds usually bring fair weather; only thick, dark clouds like nimbus and cumulonimbus drop rain.

True — wind blows away the warm air close to your skin, which is called wind chill and makes a cold day feel much colder than the thermometer shows.

False — snow is solid because it is made of frozen ice crystals; rain is the liquid form of precipitation.