Dear Tom,
I have played in a Thursday evening softball league for the last seven years. Perhaps I just notice it more because of game cancellations, but it seems like Thursdays are rainier than other days of the week. Do the historical rainfall data support this?
Steve Szejner, Chicago
Dear Steve,
Precipitation does not favor any day of the week.
We ran a computer check of every day in the period from Sunday, Jan. 1, 1871, through Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005, classifying each of the 49,308 days (7,044 weeks) in that 135-year period as either “wet” (measurable precipitation) or “dry” (a trace or no precipitation).
The results: 66 percent of the 7,044 Sundays were dry, as were 66 percent of the Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. On Saturday, 67 percent were dry.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or asktomwhy@wgntv.com (Mail volume precludes personal response.)
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
