Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: Rain, Rain, Go Away
by Stacy Conradt - April 27, 2009 - 3:29 PM

q10

So it’s been raining here in Des Moines pretty much since Friday night. On and off, but it’s so random that you don’t want to risk going outside for long periods of time because one second it’s sunny and the next second dark clouds are rolling in and the sky opens up and spews forth torrential rains. We’ve been preoccupied with rain all weekend – my husband with the gutters and me with getting optimal sleep time (sleeping to the sound of rain is the best), so now I’m going to make you preoccupied with it too!

rain1. Seattle is known for being rainy, but it’s by far not the rainiest town in the U.S. Washington isn’t even the rainiest state in the U.S. or the rainiest state on the west coast! Portland, Oregon, is currently winning that battle with about 45 inches a year. Seattle gets an average of 37.1 inches. The state that gets drenched the most is technically Alaska with 160 inches every year, but if you’re going for contiguous states, it’s Alabama – Mobile spends nearly two months of every year pulling on galoshes and hoping they know where they left the umbrella.
2. Although you often see rain depicted as teardrop-shaped, it’s anything but. What it looks like depends on how big it is. Small drops of rain are just about spherical, bigger ones are rounded on top and flat on the bottom, and really big ones are kind of parachute-shaped. Any bigger than about five mm and they fragment.

3. The biggest rain ever recorded happened in 2004 over Brazil and the Marshall Islands and clocked in at about 10 mm.

4. “Rain Rain, Go Away” has a few different versions. The one I know is “Rain, Rain, Go Away, come again another day.” But “Raine raine goe to Spain: faire weather come againe,” dates back to the 17th century; “Rain raine goe away,
Come againe a Saturday,” was noted in a 1687 book by John Aubrey; and “Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day, Little Arthur wants to play,” was published in the mid-19th century. Do you use a different version??

5. If you like the scent after a rain storm, what you really like the aroma of is petrichor. A bunch of plants secrete the oil during dry spells; the oil dries on the ground and rocks around it. When it rains, the drops hit the dry oil, which releases it into the air along with another compound called geosmin. But go ahead and say you love the smell of rain – I don’t think anyone is going to correct you. And as a side note, I bet Dwight Schrute could tell you what geosmin is – it’s also what makes beets taste earthy.

rain26. Lloró, a town in Chocó, Colombia, is the world’s wettest place. Spanish speakers will get the joke – “llorar” means “to cry” in Spanish and is also sometimes used as a metaphor for rain. The town gets an average of 523.6 inches of rain every year – how crazy is that? It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Lloró to get nearly 20 inches in a single day.
7. Bigger cities are more likely to get rain on Saturdays than small towns or rural areas. Why? In a word: people. All of the pollution humans generate with car exhaust and traffic and stuff like that collects during the week; by Saturday, the likelihood of rain is much higher than any other day of the week (as much as 22% in some places on the Eastern Seaboard).
8. The Mackintosh has been around since 1824. Charles Macintosh patented rubberized fabric in 1823 and his coats were being sold in stores just a year later. No one really knows why the “k” got added in – it seems to have just been an arbitrary marketing decision by a couple of writers somewhere down the line.

9. The maximum speed a raindrop can reach is 18 mph. At this point, the speed friction will make the raindrop break up into smaller particles, so it can’t fall any faster.

10. A shower is officially classified as precipitation from a broken, bubble-like cloud. That’s why they are so brief. If a shower lasts for more than 20 minutes, it’s probably rain, which is precipitation from a layered cloud.

Maybe writing about rain will appease the gods and the sun will break through, but if the forecasters are right, we’re in for more rain for the next week on and off. Booooo. So here’s where you can help me – what do you do to salvage a rainy day? Looks like I’ll have lots of opportunity to put your suggestions to the test over the next seven days or so!

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Comments (25)

  1. Quite a surprise about Washington & Oregon. None about Alabama. Here in Montgomery our “normal” rainfall is about 54″ a year. However, we have not hit that total in nearly 4 years. Like much of the Southeast, we are emerging from a 3-year drought and hope to get back to “normal this year.

    posted by oldie45 on 4-27-2009 at 3:58 pm

  2. On rainy days, I catch up on my mental_floss! ;-)

    I also use rainy days to clean my apartment. I like to open the windows (if it’s warm enough) and let the aroma of petrichor in.

    posted by Amy D on 4-27-2009 at 4:16 pm

  3. I love to relax and read a good book. I also love baking. There’s nothing quite so wonderful as opening a couple windows, making a loaf of banana bread, and reading while the smells mingle and fill the air. :)

    posted by Wendy on 4-27-2009 at 4:30 pm

  4. If I’m stuck at work, I look out the window all day, do no real work, and moan about not being able to sleep. If I’m at home, I read and sleep, or sit on the back porch enjoying the sounds, smells, and beauty of it all.

    Amazingly enough, we here in San Antonio have been enjoying rainy weather all day. It’s been gorgeous, except for the being at work part. We’ll take any of your extraneous rain if you’re not wanting it, Stacy and oldie45!

    posted by nutmeag on 4-27-2009 at 4:36 pm

  5. The “biggest” rain was 10mm? Huh?

    posted by Craig on 4-27-2009 at 4:36 pm

  6. the best way to spend a rainy day is to jump in puddles. not only is it something one can only do on a rainy day, but it can also be used to passive-aggressively get back at slow walkers around you!

    curling up with a good book and cup of coffee is great, too :)

    posted by heather on 4-27-2009 at 4:38 pm

  7. In Central Valley, CA we don’t get many rainy days but my favorite rainy day activity is to order pizza and veg out watching movies.

    posted by Sarah in CA on 4-27-2009 at 4:59 pm

  8. I was born and raised for 21 years near Portland, Oregon in Clackamas so I definitely know what to do on a rainy day… I don’t think I’ve gone a month without busting out my magic carpet print rubber boots! Ever wear shorts and rubber boots in the same day? Thats normal for Oregon. Rainy Day activities for me included Jagermeister+Scrabble=Scrabblmeister, Mud Football with my brothers and their friends and my friends, Mud Sledding, Earthworm collection for next day fishing, Tye-Dye indoors, and baking. In Oregon we love home cooked food, and a big pot of beef and barley stew with home made cornbread can’t be beat on a rainy day!

    posted by Kate on 4-27-2009 at 5:03 pm

  9. I have a covered deck in back, and I like to sit out there, play cards, and watch the rain fall and, since it faces west, I can also watch the weather come toward me so I know when to go inside, or when to fire up the grill.

    posted by Walter on 4-27-2009 at 5:06 pm

  10. It’s actually raining right now! It has been all day!

    I usually do what I usually do on a non rainy day expect that I can’t stand outside while I wait for my sister to talk to her friend.

    posted by Ellie on 4-27-2009 at 5:53 pm

  11. It’s raining here too; I love the rumble of thunder. I am one to actually go out and play in the rain, preferably barefoot and in sweatpants and a t-shirt. The sweatpants are a lot more comfortable wet than jeans, and if one is playing in the rain, one should be wet. Then I hop in a nice hot shower, put on some pj’s and read a good book.

    posted by Amy on 4-27-2009 at 6:01 pm

  12. second on the baking, anothger great idea is soup. This time of year some vegetable soup with zuchinni nut bread smeared with cream cheese yummm…other than that movie marathons and books..mainly books so you can hear the rain fall possibly have a window open to get that wonderful smell in

    posted by Sarah in IN on 4-27-2009 at 6:32 pm

  13. In the UK we sing this version (or at least I did, and I’m 21): ‘Rain rain go away, come on mother’s washing day.’

    posted by Nikki on 4-27-2009 at 6:37 pm

  14. i’d gladly trade you some sun for the rain. it hit 102 degrees last week here in phoenix. yuck. i can’t wait for summer monsoon season…

    posted by tiffany on 4-27-2009 at 6:57 pm

  15. Firstly, I really liked this article! I like all of the random information articles, so this one was definitely one of the best.

    Secondly- nice Dwight reference!

    Oh, and about what I like to do on rainy days…
    - Get my homework done
    - Relax and read a great book
    - Go to the movies!
    - Run around in the rain…

    posted by Hannah on 4-27-2009 at 10:33 pm

  16. You kids and your complaining about rain. I hate living in the desert.

    posted by Isaac on 4-28-2009 at 12:03 am

  17. I do these:

    - Curl up with The Edge Chronicles or Breaking Dawn

    - Surf the ‘net

    - Check my mail (indefinitely postponed, I have a TON of it)

    - Watch Tak and the Power of Juju or El Tigre or Totally Spies

    reCAPTCHA: bella his (His Bella) Weird, huh?

    posted by Jen Pen on 4-28-2009 at 12:13 am

  18. I have few pet peeves but people complaining about rain is one. I love rainy days. You don’t have to stay inside. It is just rain. It won’t hurt you. Have fun go outside in the rain. Just don’t dance…that lame.

    posted by adele on 4-28-2009 at 7:22 am

  19. It’s raining here too (Wellington, New Zealand)! It’s such a lovely sound, and the best one to sleep by.

    Rainy days…if on a weekend, it’s a good excuse to stay home (as wind often accompanies the rain here, making umbrellas completely useless) and catch up on Mental Floss. And nap, of course!

    posted by Dawn on 4-28-2009 at 7:30 am

  20. Great Quick 10! I love rain–and thunderstorms (not so much the severe ones, just the normal ones). Show some love to your Iowa farmers–they’re probably pretty happy for some sustained rainfall (unless they’re not done planting–and then they’ll probably join you in hoping your Quick 10 appeased the rain gods!)

    posted by kate on 4-28-2009 at 9:31 am

  21. Oh, and great fact about showers. I had no idea it was a function of cloud type–I just thought it was rain for a short duration or scattered area. Nice!

    And I don’t feel rainy days need to be “salvaged”. Of course, I’m a grad student, and weather is really irrelevant to me because I’m usually inside reading something anyway.

    posted by kate on 4-28-2009 at 9:33 am

  22. I currently live in Hawaii due to military commitments, used to live in VA, but I’m originally from VT and I miss thunderstorms so much! Apparently Hawaii doesn’t get them that often (last time they did all of Oahu lost power and I was back home in VT for Christmas, go figure). In my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful than a thunder and lightening storm over the ocean. Sigh, I really miss them now.

    posted by Jess on 4-28-2009 at 9:56 am

  23. Thanks for a weather Quick 10! Today at work I forecasted thunderstorms and as of now I’m really wrong. I’m usually satisfied if I was right about the potential for them and there is definitely the potential.

    My rainy days: The comfy chair by the window, a good book, and I spend the day together.

    posted by Tricia on 4-28-2009 at 12:17 pm

  24. Just a comment on the “rain” in the Dancing in the Rain photo, they actually used milk during production because it looked more like rain. I always thought that was funny, dancing in the milk.

    posted by SM on 4-28-2009 at 6:14 pm

  25. We are having rain in the mountains – a rare phenomenon in Northern CA – so I wrote about it in my journal this morning. To answer your question:
    ~ books of course – especially re-reads
    ~ watching the fire in my fire place
    ~ tea: not just a mug of = I get out my china, cream and sugar in a delicate set that belonged to my mom, silver spoon and sit at my table with my book and enjoy
    ~ and I have just discovered as my husband just mentioned it: eating breakfast on a little porch that has a skylight roof so we are rained on without getting wet ~ enjoy your rainy days

    posted by Susan Mix on 5-3-2009 at 11:20 am

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