Two days before Thanksgiving, and typically a day of heavy travel, Tuesday also turned out to be Washington’s wettest day of the month, memorable for its blend of meteorological accomplishment with the mandates of mobility.
The day also seemed notable for its sunset. As the sun descended in late afternoon, hidden by clouds, its light seemed to shine through the overcast to spread over much of the sky. In place of the fiery oranges and reds often seen as the sun descends, Tuesday seemed to show a different color.
The western sky seemed a rust-colored blanket, almost pale brown in hue, and far more subdued than vivid as it presented itself in the last minutes before the sun went down.
For most of the day the sky had been gray and overcast, but without noticeable rain. But in late afternoon rain began to fall for a couple of hours. Much of it seemed light, but for a few minutes, heavy rain pelted parts of the city and made a major contribution to the day’s total.
As of 8 p.m., the output of the wet hours came to .17 inches, a little more than one-sixth of an inch.
But this had not been a month of heavy rain, and in Washington that .17 inches was more than any previous November day this year. Not by much, however. The three wettest previous days had measured .13, .14 and .15 inches.
So far, November’s precipitation has been measured in the one-hundredths of an inch.
It has not been heavy, but has been frequent. Tuesday was the ninth day this month of measurable rain. Measurable means more than .01 inch. Five days have brought traces of rain — amounts too small to measure. So drops or droplets could be seen on 14 days so far.
The entire month’s total as of around 9 p.m. was .85 inches, well below normal.
But during the wet hours of Tuesday, Washington seemed transformed into a city of precipitation, of fog and mist as well as drizzle and rain. The mist and the rain seemed to diffuse the white glow of streetlights and the red of automobile headlights.
Light from car headlights glittered on glistening asphalt as caravans of vehicles wound their way through the city and in and out of it.
Raindrops rippled in puddles. Clouds descended to well below half a mile. At one point, both arrivals at and departures from Reagan National Airport were delayed by a half hour because of low ceilings, according to air traffic websites.
But the storm system swept eastward into the area and then out of it, and continued on its way. The night cleared, and a low crescent moon shone brightly against a dark sky as it descended in the southwest.
The post Pre-holiday travel day was D.C.’s wettest of the month appeared first on Washington Post.
