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If Only 23 Straight Days Of Rain Meant 12 Weekends In A Row

January 10, 2006

By Scott Sistek

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SEATTLE - We all remember the joke from grade school: What do you call two straight days of rain in Seattle? A weekend. Three straight? A holiday weekend.

We're still searching the joke books to come up with what to call over three weeks of it.

Tuesday marked the 23rd straight day of measurable rain in Seattle, making it the fourth-longest streak ever. The Dec. 19 start to the streak also means that, true to Seattle form, it rained on every day during the winter holiday break for the area's schools -- but then it kept right on going after school resumed, so "winter break" is no answer to our riddle.

And this hasn't been just the usual Seattle drizzle, we've had some pretty impressive rainfall through the streak -- 13 of the 23 days have been greater than 0.25", and six of those days were over a half inch.

How's that add up? Through 7 a.m. Tuesday, Seattle has received 10.51" of rain during the streak that began on Dec. 19. That's roughly 28 percent of our annual average of rain in just three weeks!

90-Day Rain Streak? Not Quite

Now, the official record for consecutive days of rain is 33 days set in 1953. Yes, it's just 33.

There is some rumor going around about streak of 90 straight days in the winter of 1998-99. While that was a rainy winter, the longest streak during that time frame was 18 days.

However, the confusion likely stemmed from the report that it did rain on 90 of the 120 days between Nov. 1 and Feb. 28. At the time, several media and wire stories reported, correctly, that those 90 days set the record for most number of rainy days during that period (breaking the record of 87 set in 1953, which is when the consecutive rainy day record was set).

But the 90 days were not consecutive. It was just 90 of 120 days -- or three of every four days had rain.

In fact, it was a full day of sunshine on Nov. 7, 1998 as well as Jan. 2 and Mar. 6 in 1999, so no 90-day rain streaks there :)

Still, Is This The Winter Of 98/99, Part II?

While our rain streak shows no sign of stopping anytime soon, we still have a ways to go to catch up to the very soggy winter of 1998-99. While they eventually had those 90 of 120 days with rain, we're a little behind that pace.

So far, we've had 46 days of rain in the 71 days since Nov. 1 (so, about 2 of every 3 days have been rainy) -- and don't forget, that includes two dry streaks of over a week -- one each in November and December.

As for amount of rain, 98-99 had 34.39" of total rain in those four aforementioned months. So far, as of Tuesday, we're approaching 16.5" of rain since Nov. 1, so we'd need to stay very wet to catch up.

Rain Not The Only Streak Going

Sure, the rain gets all the glamour, but don't forget that we have an equally impressive temperature streak going as well -- a streak of temperature streaks, actually.

On Nov. 11, the high temperature was only 47 degrees. That's not too strange, but that day began a streak of 36 days where our high temperature was at or below normal. It wasn't until Dec. 17th that we were back above.

Of course, that started its own streak of days *above* normal -- and every day since has been warmer than normal. That 25-day streak remains active through Tuesday.

How Are The Locals Handling It?

A second joke around here is that you can easily spot the tourists around here -- they're the ones carrying umbrellas. But even seasoned Puget Sound veterans can't be blamed for perhaps succumbing to the temptation of carrying an umbrella. I mean, you can only use so much hair gel :)

So, how are you handling the persistent gray, rainy days? Is 23 days of rain still greeted with a Seattle shrug? Or is the rain testing even the most ardent Puget Sounders' patience?

Send me your story or thoughts at scotts@komotv.com and I'll post some of the best ones here or in a separate story. You can also send me your suggestions of what to call 23 straight days of rain in Seattle, and I'm still taking suggestions on other ways to say it'll rain.

When Will The Rain End?

The long-range forecast keeps rain every day through the weekend, meaning our streak has a chance to reach 30 days or more.

So, what do you call 30 straight days of rain in Seattle? Precipitanuary? Rainember? Whatever it's called, I vote next time we take the entire time off :)

Rain Streak Watch

Tuesday was the 23rd consecutive day with measurable rain in Seattle.

This makes it the fourth-longest all-time rainy streak in Seattle. Here's the Top 5 rainiest streaks:

* #1 - 33 days from Jan. 6 - Feb. 7, 1953
* #2 - 25 days from Jan. 28 - Feb. 21, 1961
* #3 - 24 days from Nov. 10 - Dec. 3, 1953
* #4 - 23 days from Dec. 19, 2005 - Jan. 10, 2006 (current)
* #5 - 22 days from Dec. 18, 1964 - Jan. 8, 1965

I hadn't even noticed that the streak was this long- now it is gonna start to bug me. I remember the 1998/99 winter- it sucked a great deal of ass- it was dark and gloomy for like 3 months straight seemingly. This year hasn't been nearly as bad. Pretty sure we will get some lowland flooding this week- snow levels are rising in the mountains, so there will runoff in addition to the downpour of rain.

I guess it is the price we pay to keep everything so green around here. Thank god for indoor sports like BF2 :-D

Quote from: WayAbvPar on January 10, 2006, 10:46:29 AM

If Only 23 Straight Days...

What are the other 7 days called? Gay days?

Along with all that rain, people on the street have to watch out for jumpers off the Space Needle.

Definitely. When they fall from that height, they can create quite a street level tsunami in all the puddles.

It's been windy too.

Anyways - it's wet.

I hate it when you cyber with me in public Shockeye.

We've had a similar sitch here in Portland. But it's been like 60 degrees, so I'm not complaining. Warm +wet> cold and dry (especially since dry weather this time of year means Old Man East Wind is tearing the skin right off yer face).

Same report up here in Vancouver, BC. Wet. Followed by wet. And then some more wet. We have more words for rain than we do for pot...which is saying something.

I love all kinds of weather. Really pisses off people trying to gripe about it around me. Actually, i don't like hot, humid and sunny days. They are worse than an ice storm imo.

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Actually, i don't like hot, humid and sunny days. They are worse than an ice storm imo.

Amen. It is much easier to stay warm than to stay cool.

Today's forcast: more rain.

Its actually been half-ways sunny all morning in Vancouver. I'm fully expecting the weather gods to strike down upon us twice as hard after this brief reprieve.

What's that painful glare coming through the windows.... ack, the sun! It's been a while.

Sun coming in my window now, as a matter of fact. It was raining like hell 30 minutes ago. I am sure it will be raining again before I go to lunch.

Been a decent amount of rain in SF this xmas season. Hell it was raining last night / this morning but suddenly the sky is a strange bright grey color (others have called it "blue" in my presence) I haven't seen for some time.

Our basement has been flooding. It pools under the stairs where we keep the litter boxes, so now instead of smelling like cat piss it smells like cat piss and wet newspaper. Awesome.

Quote from: voodoolily on January 11, 2006, 06:22:02 PM

Our basement has been flooding. It pools under the stairs where we keep the litter boxes, so now instead of smelling like cat piss it smells like cat piss and wet newspaper. Awesome.

I didn't realize you were a crazy cat lady.

It explains so much.

Probably some freaky bioengineered cats, too.

Quote from: Shockeye on January 11, 2006, 08:21:58 PM

I didn't realize you were a crazy cat lady.

It explains so much.

I'm almost certain that I've mentioned we have four cats. And I used to hate cats. They're all insane or assholes except my cat Bock.

...but you seriously would never be able to tell we have that many cats since our house is big and clean.

4 cats.

Yep, you're on your way.

I bet they're all fatties. Yup, big fat fatass cats.

I have no explanation for this.

Day 26.

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Friday, January 13, 2006 · Last updated 7:04 a.m. PT

Day 26 of Seattle rain

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE -- This is the 26th straight day of rain in Seattle, closing in on the record of 33 days set in 1953.

Steady rain has filled most Western Washington rivers and the National Weather Service has a flood watch in effect through tonight in Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, King, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom counties.

Forecasters also are watching for flooding on the east slopes of the Cascades. A flood warning is in effect for the Columbia River at Longview at high tide this afternoon for minor flooding of farmland.

The precipitation is falling as snow in the mountains. Another six to ten inches are expected today in the Cascades.

Among the places with minor flooding are along Lake Sammamish at Redmond where sandbags are holding back water at the Lakewood Shores condo complex and along the Nisqually River in Thurston County where at least ten families have been evacuated from the Riverside Manor Apartments.

No end in sight. Gonna be a factor tomorrow for the Seahawks game. Bugger.

Quote from: WayAbvPar on January 13, 2006, 08:35:16 AM

No end in sight. Gonna be a factor tomorrow for the Seahawks game. Bugger.

I thought you had a dome up there.

Streak ends at 27 days

Of course, it doesn't rain on the one day I didn't leave the house. It is back to wet again today, and for the foreseeable future.

In the West of Scotland (especially Argyll and Bute) it's been raining more or less non stop since the last ice age. You'd feel right at home.

I wonder if I can wish a half plague of locusts on people now....