In many cases, rain does start as snow, but it can also form as water droplets in certain situations. There is lots of controversy surrounding this question, and many people will tell you that yes, all raindrops start as snowflakes because the upper atmosphere is cold. When raindrops get too large, they’ll break apart into smaller drops, forming into one of these four shapes. Instead, because of the way they stretch as they fall, they look a lot like a pair of earmuffs, with two drops of water to either side, connected by a thin band of water. The largest raindrops - 4.5 millimeters and above - don’t resemble drops at all.
At three millimeters, they distort even more as they fall, forming a kidney shape. Once they reach the two-millimeter size, however, they start to distort a little bit, looking something like a hamburger bun - flat on the bottom, rounded on the top. Small raindrops (one millimeter or less in size) are held together by surface tension, so they’re perfectly round. Raindrops come in four different shapes, depending on their size. Actually, neither of those things is true. Most people assume that raindrops are shaped like teardrops-or maybe they’re like snowflakes, with each individual droplet having its own unique shape.