What comes first, evaporation or condensation?

The Start of the Water Cycle

When looking at the continuous movement of water on Earth, the journey always kicks off with evaporation. This initial phase happens when heat from the sun warms up water in oceans, lakes, and rivers, causing the liquid water to turn into invisible water vapor and rise up into the atmosphere.

Following this upward journey, the next phase in the cycle is condensation. As the warm vapor travels higher into the sky, it cools down and changes back into tiny liquid water droplets or ice crystals, gathering together to form clouds. While evaporation starts the movement by pulling moisture up from the surface, condensation cannot happen until that water vapor has already formed and cooled in the air above.