Video narration
Our drop races toward the valley. It strikes a leaf, rolls to the forest floor, and joins other drops in a shallow stream. Water runs downhill into creeks and rivers, then toward a lake or the ocean. Some of it takes a quieter path. It soaks into the soil, where plant roots can use it. Some moves deeper through spaces in rock and soil, becoming groundwater. It may stay there before slowly feeding a spring, stream, lake, or sea. Water held as snow and ice can wait too, then flow onward when it melts. Wherever it gathers, the Sun can lift it again. Water also leaves plants into the air, adding to the sky's supply. There is no final stop-only another part of the water cycle, Earth's continuous movement of water between land, sea, air, and living things. So when you see a puddle fade beneath a bright afternoon Sun, remember: it was never truly gone. It was continuing its journey, gathering in the sky, and finding its way back to Earth as rain.