Rain

Rain is a type of weather that occurs occasionally in Minecraft.

Behavior
Rain is a semi-common temporary, global occurrence that can happen randomly at any time within the Overworld. In colder biomes, and at certain altitudes, it snows instead. In warmer biomes, and in other dimensions, it does not rain at all.

The average rainfall lasts 0.5 – 1 Minecraft day, and there is a 0.5 to 7.5 day delay between rainstorms. Rainstorms have a small chance to worsen into thunderstorms.

Rainstorms can be skipped entirely with the use of a bed.

Effects


Rainstorms darken the world, causing the light from the sun to decrease by 3, bringing it to light level 12 in full daylight. Moonlight, however, is not reduced, and remains at light level 4. The sky itself will darken (even in biomes where it does not rain), to the point where celestial bodies (the sun, moon, and stars) are no longer visible. The clouds darken from white to a light gray, although clouds themselves do not precipitate. Although the sun is not visible during rain, the glow associated with sunrise and sunset is still visible.

Rain will put out fires (including flaming arrows ). However, it will not put out fires on netherrack, and it will not solidify lava. Mobs that are on fire will be put out on contact with rain; this prevents skeletons and zombies from burning during the day. On the contrary, endermen and snowmen may die due to their weakness to water. Endermen will teleport randomly until they find a place which is dry. Blazes that are brought into the Overworld will die on contact with rain as well.

Other interesting effects caused by rain:


 * Fish are more abundant during rain.
 * Wolves shake themselves dry if they are not moving (certain versions only).
 * Farmland becomes hydrated if it isn't already.
 * Rain fills up cauldrons with water, albeit slowly.

Rain particles
Rain particles make noise when they hit a block, and this noise can be heard at any point within 16 blocks. These particles (along with the associated sound) can be disabled by setting Particles to "Minimal" in the Video Settings menu. Although rain particles are only visible in the immediate vicinity, its effects occur within all loaded areas. Note that rain drops only fall in the two middle lines of a block, thus will not visibly fall directly onto the player. At y=1 and below, rain does not generate particles and the associated sound event.

Raindrops fall through ladders, vines, carpets, redstone repeaters, snow layers, mob heads, flower pots and cobwebs. They are stopped by signs, banners, doors, fence gates, trapdoors, pressure plates, glass panes and iron bars.

In Pocket Edition, raindrops seem to be affected by the wind, i.e the rain appears to fall diagonally and randomly changes direction; it also falls faster.

Trivia



 * Rain falls at approximately the same speed one can descend while flying. This means that it is actually possible to free fall faster than the rain particles.
 * If you fly up when it rains, the rain appears to fall faster. if you fly down while it rains, it will make the raindrops appear to be frozen in time.
 * Rain actually falls one block into the void (Layer -1). This can be seen in Creative Mode by floating in the Void. Note that no particles are emitted from the rain, due to the absence of a block below it.
 * Rain still falls above the clouds. Notch's explanation is that the gray above the clouds during a storm is another layer of clouds and the origin of the rain.
 * Raindrop splash particles can be seen on top of blocks of layer 255 at most, even in biomes where it cannot rain.