Grandma never lectured. She told stories.

The water cycle is the continuous movement of water through Earth's systems. Evaporation turns liquid water from oceans, lakes, and rivers into water vapour when heated by the sun. This vapour rises into the atmosphere where cooler temperatures cause condensation — water molecules collect on dust particles to form clouds. When droplets grow heavy enough, precipitation occurs as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Some water flows across the surface as runoff into streams and rivers. Some infiltrates the soil, replenishing groundwater aquifers. Plants absorb water through roots and release it back to the atmosphere through transpiration. The cycle has no beginning or end — the same water molecules that filled dinosaur oceans now fall as rain on your garden. Understanding the water cycle explains weather patterns, droughts, floods, and why fresh water — only 2.5% of Earth's total — is our most precious and finite resource.