Rain
Rain is a type of weather that occurs occasionally in Minecraft.
Rain is a somewhat common, temporary, and global occurrence[1] that can happen randomly at any time within the Overworld. In colder biomes, and at higher altitudes, it snows instead, specifically when the temperature drops below 0.15. No rain occurs in dry biomes such as deserts and savannas, as well as in other dimensions and dripstone and lush caves.‌[BE only] In all biomes, rainfall occurs between Y=256 and Y=356, where it transitions into snowfall.
The average rainfall lasts 0.5–1 Minecraft day, and there is a 0.5–7.5 day delay between rains. Rain has a small chance to worsen into a thunderstorm.

Rain is a type of weather that occurs occasionally in Minecraft.
Behavior
Rain is a somewhat common, temporary, and global occurrence[1] that can happen randomly at any time within the Overworld. In colder biomes, and at higher altitudes, it snows instead, specifically when the temperature drops below 0.15. No rain occurs in dry biomes such as deserts and savannas, as well as in other dimensions and dripstone and lush caves.[BE only] In all biomes, rainfall occurs between Y=256 and Y=356, where it transitions into snowfall.
The average rainfall lasts 0.5–1 Minecraft day, and there is a 0.5–7.5 day delay between rains. Rain has a small chance to worsen into a thunderstorm.
Rainy weather always clears at sunrise after sleeping in a bed. Otherwise, it stops after a random duration of time.
Effects



Rainfalls 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. In Java Edition, the sky darkens in all biomes with different colors (see Sky § Colors for a full list). In Bedrock Edition, the sky or atmospherics turn to
rgb(103, 103, 103) in all biomes, except dry biomes with Vibrant Visuals. Fog grows in density, decreasing view distance by 30%, and is colored in classic graphics
#666666 (
#403C44 in pale gardens).
Celestial bodies (the sun, moon, and stars) are no longer visible.[2] In Bedrock Edition, the sun and moon are still visible in biomes with no rain, but stars aren't. Clouds darken from white to gray (95%
rgb(191, 191, 191) blended with regular colors in Bedrock Edition). Although the sun is not visible during rain, the glow associated with sunrise and sunset is still visible,[JE only] or mie scattering with Vibrant Visuals.
Rain extinguishes fires (including flaming arrows[3]), although it does not extinguish lit campfires or fires on netherrack or magma blocks.[4] Rain does not solidify lava, and does not empty lava cauldrons. Mobs on fire are quenched on contact with rain, preventing skeletons, strays, zombies, zombie villagers, drowned, and phantoms from burning during the day. During rain, drowned can leave bodies of water when chasing a target, as if it were night time. Endermen and snow golems may die due to their weakness to water; they take damage at a rate of 1HP per half second. Endermen teleport randomly until they find a dry place. Blazes and striders that are in the Overworld also take damage on contact with rain.
Other effects caused by rain:
- While fishing, there is a shorter wait time on average to get a bite during rain.[5]
- Wolves shake themselves dry if they are not moving (certain versions only).
- Farmland becomes hydrated if it is not already.[6]
- Rain fills up cauldrons with water, albeit slowly.
- Tridents enchanted with Riptide can be used on land.
- Tridents enchanted with Channeling call down lightning when thrown at a lightning rod in Bedrock Edition, while in Java Edition that requires the occurrence of a thunderstorm.
- Tridents with the Impaling enchantment deal more damage to entities in rain.[Bedrock Edition only]
- Villagers enter houses and stop their daily schedule.[Bedrock Edition only]
- Bees that are outside return to their hives.
- Players are granted the Conduit Power status effect when within a conduit's range without having to be in the same body of water.
- Axolotls and dolphins can survive outside of water.
Rain particles
Rain particles create small water particles and make a noise when they hit a block, and this noise can be heard at any point within 16 blocks. In Java Edition, these particles can be disabled by setting particles to "Minimal" in the video settings menu. Although rain particles are visible just in the immediate vicinity, their effects occur within all loaded areas. Raindrops fall only in the two middle lines of a block, thus do not visibly fall directly onto the player. At Y=-64 and below, rain does not generate particles and the associated sound event.
In Bedrock Edition, rain can fall slightly tilted. In Java Edition rain always falls straight down.
On the border of a snowy biome and rainy biome, rainfall gradually transforms into snowfall up to eight blocks from the border in Bedrock Edition. On the border of a rainy biome and a dry biome, rain particles gradually decrease in density and the sky brightens. This also happens when the biomes border each other in vertical direction, and has no influence on gameplay. In Java Edition, no transition between biomes exists at all and the border between types of precipitation is visible on the edge of single blocks.
List of blocks that let rain go through
- ↑ Also works for snowfall.
- ↑ MC-203542 – Rain can pass through carpets
- ↑ MC-205442 – When it rains/snows on powder snow, it appears to fall through it
- ↑ MC-226976 – Rain and snow can pass through untilted big dripleaf
- ↑ a b MC-259109 – Rain/snow go through chorus flower and chorus plant
- ↑ MCPE-38138 – Rain goes through barrier blocks – resolved as "Won't Fix".
- ↑ MC-50555 – Rain doesn't fall through open trapdoors – resolved as "Works As Intended".
- ↑ MC-258779 – Rain doesn't go through sculk veins
- ↑ a b MC-248299 – Rain/Snow go through coral but not go through dead coral
Sounds
| Sounds | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | Closed captions | Source | Description | Identifier | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
| Rain falls | Weather | When rain is falling on a block | weather | subtitles | 0.2 | 1.0 | 16 | |
| Rain falls | Weather | When rain is falling on a block less than two blocks above the player's eye level, and rain is not falling on the player | weather | subtitles | 0.1 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| Sounds | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | Closed captions | Source | Description | Identifier | Translation key | Volume | Pitch |
| Rain falls | Weather | When rain is falling on a block | ambient | subtitles | 0.020 | 1.0 | |
| Rain falls | Weather | When rain is falling on a block less than two blocks above the player's eye level, and rain is not falling on the player | ambient | subtitles | 0.020 | unknown | |
History
Development
| October 22, 2009 | Rain is showcased. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 22, 2009 | Rain is shown to be made thinner. | ||||||
Java Edition
| Java Edition Classic | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.26 SURVIVAL TEST | Rain is introduced purely for cosmetic purposes. The mechanics are simple, only testing if there is a block above to shelter the rain. It can now be toggled on and off with the F5 key. | ||||||
| Java Edition Indev | |||||||
| 20100212-1210 | F5 no longer toggles rain. | ||||||
| Java Edition Infdev | |||||||
| 20100413-1951 | F5 once again toggles rain. As it also toggles third person by this point, rain is visible only while in third person. | ||||||
| The rain effects are broken, as only the splash particles appear, and they are always located at sea level. | |||||||
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||||
| v1.0.4 | Rain splash particles once again appear on top of the highest block, instead of always at sea level. | ||||||
| v1.0.5 | F5 no longer toggles rain. | ||||||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||||
| 1.5 | April 08, 2011 | Rain and falling snow are implemented after a teaser video was released. | |||||
| Rain now has sounds. | |||||||
| Java Edition | |||||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w22a | Rain now fills cauldrons with water. | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Rain now becomes snow in some biomes above certain altitudes. | |||||
| 1.9 | 16w04a | Rain sounds are updated (previously ). They now sound more ambient/quieter and 'realistic'. | |||||
| 1.18 | 21w44a | Sleeping now only resets the weather cycle during rain or a thunderstorm.[7] Therefore, sleeping frequently no longer prevents rain or a thunderstorm from happening. | |||||
Bedrock Edition
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | Added rain. | |||||
| build 9 | Rain is now visible from underwater. | ||||||
| Rain now should cause less lag. | |||||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 1.0.0.0 | Rain can now be skipped by sleeping. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||||
| 1.21.100 | Preview 1.21.100.21 | Added unique atmospherics for rainfall with Vibrant Visuals. | |||||
Legacy Console Edition
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox 360 | Xbox One | PS3 | PS4 | PS Vita | Wii U | Switch | |
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added rain. |
| TU3 | Improved rain.[verify] | ||||||
| TU4 | Rain will no longer go through blocks, and it will no longer rain indoors. | ||||||
| TU5 | Improved the rain edges when looking up in rain. | ||||||
| TU14 | 1.04 | Rain now fills cauldrons with water. | |||||
| TU69 | 1.76 | 1.76 | 1.76 | Patch 38 | Rain sounds are updated (previously ). They now sound more ambient/quieter and 'realistic'. | ||
Issues
Issues relating to "Rain" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.
Trivia
- Rain falls more slowly than the player.
- Rain still falls above the clouds. Notch explains that the gray above the clouds during a storm is another layer of clouds and the origin of the rain.[8]
Gallery
Screenshots
-
Rain at midnight, which makes the weather effects less visible but darkens the environment more.
-
Rain at midnight in a dry biome. The stars are noticeably missing.
-
The transition between snowfall and rainfall in Bedrock Edition
-
The transition between rainfall and no precipitation in Bedrock Edition
-
The border between rainfall and no precipitation in Java Edition
-
The border between rainfall and snowfall in Java Edition
-
The occurrence of all three weather types visible at once, rain, snow, and clear weather
Historical screenshots
-
Rain in Java Edition Classic
-
An early bug showed rain particles underwater. This was fixed in Alpha v1.0.4.
-
Rain in Bedrock Edition used to be able to fall one block into the void.
References
- ↑ "It's temporal and global" – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), April 7, 2011
- ↑ "You can't see sun/moon/stars while it's raining, and days are one level darker." - @notch on Twitter, April 7, 2011 (Archived)
- ↑ "I'm not making it solidify lava, as that would ruin all surface lava structures when the first rain hits. But it does put out fires." – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), April 7, 2011
- ↑ "it will not!" - @notch on Twitter, April 8, 2011 (Archived)
- ↑ "Higher odds of catching fish while raining.. Good one. :D I'll try making it fill small holes with water, but it might be annoying.. brb" – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), April 7, 2011
- ↑ "Wolves get wet in the rain. Crops will get watered. Anything else it should affect?" – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), April 7, 2011
- ↑ MC-63340 – Sleeping always resets time until rain – resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ "there's another layer of clouds above the low one! That's why the sky turns gray." – @notch (Markus Persson) on X (formerly Twitter), October 29, 2011
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