Why do rain and thunderstorms seem to be more common at night?
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The sun heats up the Earth during the day. The hot Earth heats up the air above it giving a lifting force (heat rises) to that air which also holds more moisture as a result of being warmer. That rising, moist, air cools as it rises and eventually that moisture condenses to become a cloud. The more lift and moisture the larger the clouds.
As the sun sets though that energy being pumped into the system is pulled away. This loss of lift causes the cloud to no longer be able to support itself and it collapses. This causes rain to fall and that fast movement causes the electric potential between clouds and the ground to change which is what causes lightning. The rain also further cools the ground and accelerates the downfall of the cloud. An extreme example of a thunderstorm collapsing is a phenomenon known as a microburst which can be very destructive.
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