“Listen to the falling rain

Listen to it fall …

Let it rain all night long.”

–“Rain,” Jose Feliciano

We all know the sound of rainfall. We listen from the very moment it begins with its few succinct drops until it grows widespread and monotone in nature. It doesn’t mind where it falls or who it makes wet; it doesn’t care about our problems or circumstances. This is why the rain can make any moment seem completely natural; we are all rained on alike and we are all accompanied by the sound of the rain. Listen as we may, but without the source – water – we would not be.

But what does the rain sound like? It seems like a simple enough question with an equally simple answer. But how can we prove that millions of raindrops falling together at once will sound like rain?

Yugo Sakamura, a Japanese digital designer, set out to recreate the sound of the rain in a video entitled “Amaoto no Yurai” (“The Origin of the Sound of Rain”). He used both audio and video to record the sound of raindrops falling on a multitude of surfaces; included were water, earth, rocks, trunks, petals, leaves, tree trunks and skin. As one would expect, each sound is unique and sounds nothing like what we hear during a rain shower. Magic comes when Sakamura combined the sounds then doubled them, tripled them and quadrupled them until the original differentiation become lost. Think of it as a symphony formed with each drop acting as an instrument. The resulting masterpiece, the sound of rain, is unlike anything else. Take a listen to his work; it’s brilliant and captivating.

The rainy, windy and cold weather of yesterday is expected to linger through Sunday. Very cold temperatures remain into next week with only a slight chance for rain.

In upcoming days, “listen to the falling rain.”

2018-19 Rainfall Totals

     To Date – 20.67 inches

     Past Seven Days – 04.00 inches

     Normal Annual Rainfall Total – 23-24 inches 

Sue Kilpatrick is a Crescenta Valley resident and  Official Skywarn Spotter for the  National Weather Service. Reach her at  suelkilpatrick@gmail.com.