According to a concert program from 1868, after one exceptionally severe thunderstorm, Tom listened to the drain then "went to the piano and played what is now known as his Rainstorm and said it was what the rain, the wind, and the thunder said to him." Thomas Wiggins was just 5 years old when this happened and the Rainstorm would become one of his favorite tunes, one he would keep playing throughout his life. This piece was first published in 1865, and we can hear a gentle and naive main tune giving way to a stormy and triumphant middle section. The new theme in this new section is constantly interrupted by an insistent wave of chromatic waves in the bass. Alternating such contrasting ideas is one of the main challenges in this piece.