April may be the cruelest month, but the beginning of May hasn’t been much nicer.
Soaked District residents and workers slogged through the beginning of a new workweek Monday after a weekend of gloomy skies and rain and the forecast calling for more of the same through the end of the week.
“Nice day to be a duck,” remarked Nancy Huber, a vice president at a downtown legal-services firm, shortly before stepping outside into pelting rain.
Few people braved the District’s soaked sidewalks; those who did were glum faced and squinting to keep the rain, which seemed to come from every direction, out of their eyes.
Benches at Lafayette Square were empty, and only a few tourists snapped pictures in front of the White House, its normally immaculate lawn looking slightly overgrown thanks to the downpours.
At a nearby tourist shop, general manager Liz Perkins huddled under a small awning for a smoke break. She said she knew the rain is good for plants, “but in a few days I feel like I’m going to turn into a mushroom. It’s depressing.”
She quickly changed her mind, saying that multiple days of rain wasn’t depressing per se, but clearly had an ill effect on everyone’s energy levels.
“It makes me want to go home and curl under a blanket and read a book,” she said.
Reading is likely to be one of the few options available in the next few days, as intramural softball and youth soccer leagues across the area have canceled games. Mowing the lawn is out, too, meaning grass that is growing like, well, weeds.
Next to the White House, bike messenger Bryon Escriba sought cover to fix a flat tire when his phone rang.
“This is going on all day,” he said, explaining that rainy days mean people are more likely to call a bike messenger than to walk a package a few blocks. “It’s a lot more work. The rookies don’t come out.”
Tourists lamented their bad luck. “Just picked a bad week to come here,” said Jon Kerr, a Londoner who says he’s used to crummy weather back home but was hoping for something better during his weeklong vacation.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Peloquin said low-pressure waves from the jet stream that are running along a stalled front in southern Virginia are responsible for the bursts of rain that are likely to come and go for the rest of the week. The National Weather Service is predicting a high chance of rain through Sunday.
Peloquin said the Washington area was about two inches shy of its yearly average rainfall for this time of year, and the week of rain should make up for some of that dryness.
“It’s almost like a shift in a pattern,” he said. “We’re kind of catching up on some of those rainfall deficits.”
There is a silver lining to the bad weather, said master gardener Matthew Roberts.
The clouds and the rain mean longer-lasting blossoms on trees and plants that would otherwise wilt in hot weather.
“It’s wonderful weather for the garden,” he said.
Chances of rain:
Tuesday: 40 percent
Wednesday: 50 percent
Thursday: 40 percent
Friday: 30 percent
Saturday: 30 percent
Source: Weather Channel
