The rain that fell in the Washington area on Saturday did not amount to much, but in a region that has been notably dry, it seemed to give a sense that the atmosphere was at least making an effort.
At Reagan National Airport, close to the heart of the area, .14 inches showed up in the gauges. In cultures that never adopted the decimal system, that relatively small figure might have been reported as about one seventh of an inch.
That quantity may have seemed to show no more than a loose commitment to meteorological incrementalism.
It was not to be mistaken for deluge or downpour. Yet it seemed to leave the soil, if not soaked, then at least moistened. And significantly, it was the seventh day this month marked by sufficient rainfall to measure.
Saturday’s quantity seemed to conform with amounts measured earlier this month. It fell only .01 inch short of the .15 inches measured Tuesday. That has been this November’s wettest day in Washington.
The amount that fell by 5 p.m. Saturday was more than Friday’s .03 inch total, and substantially more than the month’s two days that barely met the measurability threshold and yielded .01 inch each.
On five days this month, gray clouds disgorged a few drops, perhaps creating the illusion of one more rainy day. Alas for the partisans of precipitation, and the many who thirst for moisture, on those five days no more than a “trace” of rain was officially detected in Washington, an amount too small to measure.
As computed by the National Weather Service, when added together, all of this month’s drops, the seemingly fat and the almost invisibly thin, totaled only .65 inches.
Probably it is not necessary to earn a degree in hydrology to recognize that over a long term such a meager rate of rainfall is not the most desirable for a vast metropolitan area. As of Saturday, Washington’s November precipitation fell 70 percent short of normal.
Nonetheless, the sense created by all the recent drip and drizzle taken together, the visual impression of the many overcast hours, and the moisture that was indeed measured, if only in miniature spoonfuls, did suggest that revolt may have begun against the domination of dryness.
Meanwhile, the latest edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor, valid through 7 a.m. Tuesday, indicated that much of the Washington region, including western Fairfax County, is experiencing severe drought. Almost the entire Washington region reported abnormal dryness or worse.
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