Only a little rain fell in the District on Saturday, but over the past two weeks, a little has come to seem like a lot.
The official rainfall total for D.C. as of 5 p.m. Saturday was 0.03 inches, a relatively meager amount for the city by normal standards. At Dulles International Airport, the rain amounted to 0.15 inches.
Even that quantity did not seem particularly large, but at Dulles, about 25 miles northwest of the District, it was, in a relative sense, substantial. Saturday was by far the wettest day there in more than three weeks.
In the District, the gray look and damp feel of the day may have amplified the impression made by the small amount of rain that fell.
Thick clouds covered the sky from earliest morning until evening. In the day’s clouded dimness, it sometimes seemed as if the air was filled with tiny droplets, even when no rain was measured.
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But in the afternoon, streets and sidewalks glistened with a thin film of moisture, attesting to the actual descent of a fine spring rain.
For much of the darkly overcast day, it appeared as if at any moment the heavens might open, unleashing great torrents.
But in the District, the official rainfall figure remained puny and almost trivial. Yet it still made Saturday the second-wettest day in the city in more than two weeks.
At times in that period, it seemed almost justifiable to inquire of nature about the fate of April’s reputed showers — the showers that are celebrated in song as bringing the flowers that bloom in May.
On April 12, 0.19 inches fell in the District. Since then, Washington’s wettest day was April 15, with 0.14 inches. At Dulles, where the lack of rain has been more noticeable, 0.66 inches fell April 3. Since then, the total measured has been a little less than a quarter-inch.
So, although in many places Saturday’s raindrops may not have amounted to much in the absolute sense, they appeared to be comparatively significant entries on this month’s rainfall ledgers.
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