One of the causes of rain and snow is discovered (in 2010…). David Sands of Montana State University discovered that the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae is the trigger for the crystallization of water droplets, which then fall as rain. Pseudomonas syringae is found on plants all over the world. When it enters the atmosphere with evaporating water, it has evolved (according to Darwin) to be able to return to Earth as rain or snow. Sands discovered that 70% of the snow analyzed in the mountains of Montana had formed around a nucleus of Pseudomonas syringae. The bacterium has developed (again according to Darwin) the ability to attack plants, causing them to freeze (even several degrees above freezing) by emitting a particular protein. This same ability is then crucial for freezing water droplets once they rise to altitude and cool sufficiently. Water droplets can also accumulate around a suspended dust grain or a micrometeorite (15,000 tons arrive each year). Every day, 350 million tons of clouds are created, and at any given moment, approximately 11 million tons are suspended in the Earth’s atmosphere. Sands also believes that other bacteria and fungi have the same ability and influence on rain.
