1,370. Too Much or Too Little Rain

Hilchos Taaniyos 2:15

Crying out because of rain is as follows: when there’s so much rain that it causes problems, we recite prayers. There is no bigger trouble than this because homes collapse, becoming their residents’ graves. In Israel, we do not pray for rain to stop because Israel is mountainous and houses there are made of stone (so this danger does not arise). Excessive rain is considered beneficial there and we don’t fast for a benefit to stop.

Hilchos Taaniyos 2:16

If the rains stop after the grain has sprouted and the produce starts to dry out, we should fast and cry out to God until rain falls or until the produce has dried out completely (at which point rain would no longer save it). Similarly, if Pesach time arrives, which is when the trees blossom in Israel, and there is no rain, the people fast and cry out to God until rain that is suitable for trees falls or until the season passes so that rain would no longer help.