Washed out weekends: New Yorkers are not the only ones bummed out

After a busy work week, New Yorkers look forward to having a relaxing weekend catching up with friends and family or indulging in the many outdoor activities that New York City offers. But last year, residents planning their weekends looked at their weather apps with disappointment.

Rain and subsequent event cancellations, prompted by inclement weather, resulted in New Yorkers remaining indoors during weekends that would typically be bustling with social activities.

October 2023 was particularly bad. New Yorkers were dismayed by seven consecutive weekends of rain. Many took to social media to express their frustration.

An analysis of New York City weather data showed that rain occurred in the city on the weekend or around it (Friday or Monday) this year.

2023 was a rainy year

After a relatively dry 2022, New York City experienced a considerably high level of rainfall in 2023. Data from the US National Weather Service showed that the city received 59.3 inches of rain.

In September and October, numerous neighborhoods experienced extensive block-wide flooding. Brooklyn and Queens suffered the most severe impacts, although significant flooding also occurred in various locations throughout the Bronx. The floodwaters inundated subway stations, leading to widespread disruptions in subway and rail services. Additionally, many flights were canceled, and vehicular traffic congestion resulted in widespread delays.

El Niño and La Niña weather systems have been causing havoc across the world, including in the United States. This is reflected in the volatile rainfall patterns in New York City as well.

Meteorologist Katie Nickolaou predicts a drier 2024. “We are currently in an El Niño year, which means the jet streams are in a less favorable position to guide storms into the NY area,” she said.

New York City's parade is not the only one being rained on

Comparing weather patterns and systems is tricky. This investigation explored whether other rainy cities in the US experienced wet weekends as well.

One of the initial and quite unexpected discoveries was that New York City had a higher rainfall rate than the infamously wet Seattle and even surpassed New Orleans, which is often recognized as the rainiest city in the country.

In a particularly tough year for New Orleans, the city grappled with severe drought conditions that posed significant threats to its drinking water reserves.

This investigation revealed a consistent pattern of weekend rainfall in several major U.S. cities. Notably, Fort Lauderdale, recognized as the rainiest city in the country in 2023, experienced moderate rain on 31 Saturdays and Sundays.

Precipitation in New Orleans followed a similar trend, with rains occuring mostly on the weekends despite lower overall rainfall.

In Seattle, the pattern extended slightly beyond the weekend, with Fridays and Mondays also showing a higher likelihood of rain, in addition to Sundays.

Scientists attempt to explain the weekend rain

Although these rainy weekends might be seen as a stroke of bad luck, scientists have attempted to explain why this seems to happen.

A 1998 study featured in Nature by researchers at Arizona State University suggested that rain is more likely to happen on weekends along the Atlantic coast, attributing better weather on Mondays through Wednesdays to a "cloud-seeding effect" from heavy East Coast pollution, especially car emissions during the workweek.

However, this finding is disputed. Another study from the same year noted more wet weekends in the northeast. A decade later, the same researcher concluded that precipitation doesn't significantly vary by day of the week. Similarly, a 2001 study found no discernible weekly pattern in the intensity or frequency of daily rainfall in the northeast.

Here, a TikTok post by Scientific American tries to explain the phenomenon:

Let's hope the weekends this year aren't a wash!