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Why it rains less on the weekend
green.yahoo.com — Weekdays bring heavier downpours than weekends, suggests new research.
pizzler- 764 diggs
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- KaiUno, on 02/11/2008, -17/+137Because there's 2 days of weekend and 5 days of week?
Didn't RTFA.- seannj30, on 02/11/2008, -6/+2I'm sure lots of people were thinking the same thing. I was.
- redfox2600, on 02/11/2008, -5/+1Or correlation not causation.
- threemagic, on 02/11/2008, -3/+3I'm pretty sure all of digg, save a handful, realize that just because it's saturday or sunday doesn't make the weather change it's patterns... but thanks
- nospinhere, on 02/11/2008, -1/+4No, but less pollution created means less particulates in the air for water droplets to form on meaning slightly less precipitation. The patterns themselves don't change, but the amount of precipitation associated with those patterns do.
- redfox2600, on 02/11/2008, -2/+1Actually right now they have 2 graphs, 1 of rain fall vs. days of the week. Another is particle count vs days of the week. They drew a conclusion by combining the two graphs. And if you read the article some scientist say air pollution could reduce rain fall.
For we know right now the extra rain water could come from the commute to work (burning fuels also generates water).
- redfox2600, on 02/11/2008, -2/+1Actually right now they have 2 graphs, 1 of rain fall vs. days of the week. Another is particle count vs days of the week. They drew a conclusion by combining the two graphs. And if you read the article some scientist say air pollution could reduce rain fall.
- nospinhere, on 02/11/2008, -1/+4No, but less pollution created means less particulates in the air for water droplets to form on meaning slightly less precipitation. The patterns themselves don't change, but the amount of precipitation associated with those patterns do.
- 98percentcogdis, on 03/25/2008, -1/+3Or... Senate Bill S. 517 Weather Modification Research and Technology Authorization Act of 2005.
- threemagic, on 02/11/2008, -3/+3I'm pretty sure all of digg, save a handful, realize that just because it's saturday or sunday doesn't make the weather change it's patterns... but thanks
- funsac22, on 02/11/2008, -16/+3What a load of crap. Exactly as you said, 5 weekday days, 2 weekend days. Do the math. No instead NASA has to waste tax payers money and then blame pollution. I crap more during the weekdays, ~5 times versus 2 times on the weekends... Go figure?!
- piesforyou, on 02/11/2008, -2/+10There's no kinder way to say this: RTFA or shut up.
- noahhoward, on 02/11/2008, -1/+3If you would read the article you'd realise they aren't talking about days of rainfall they are talking about amount of rainfall. On average it rains twice as much on Tuesdays than it does on Saturdays.
- cogitocogito, on 02/11/2008, -1/+12If you all RTFA, you'll see that the comparison periods are Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday-Monday. So the periods are the same length. This is actually an interesting result with fairly plausible mechanisms behind it.
- floatingorb, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Yes, it is interesting. Watching the smoke plumes from the Florida fires last year modify cloud patterns got me doing a bunch of 'googling' and there is research supporting both sides of the issue (suppression of precipitation vs enhancement). There are many factors, but in our middle latitudes it is important to note that it is the "Bergeron process" which dominates the formation of precipitation. Water 'deposits' on nuclei as ice crystals until they are heavy enough to fall. The idea of water 'drops' getting heavy enough to fall is mainly only valid for tropical 'warm core' systems and some sea spray and paper plant pollution episodes where the 'hygroscopic' particles attract water and 'rain' from the blue.
Now that being said, Consider the summer thunderstorm (small-scale, vertical event). They get the energy (after initial 'bouyancy') from this deposition process (heat is released) and the uplifting drives the entrainment of more moist air. So in that kind of environment, more particles...more rain.
Interesting note: Most believe that charge separation (leading to lightning) is mostly produced from the deposition/sublimation of ice. This observation lends explaination to the rarity of lightning in tropical systems at sea.
- floatingorb, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Yes, it is interesting. Watching the smoke plumes from the Florida fires last year modify cloud patterns got me doing a bunch of 'googling' and there is research supporting both sides of the issue (suppression of precipitation vs enhancement). There are many factors, but in our middle latitudes it is important to note that it is the "Bergeron process" which dominates the formation of precipitation. Water 'deposits' on nuclei as ice crystals until they are heavy enough to fall. The idea of water 'drops' getting heavy enough to fall is mainly only valid for tropical 'warm core' systems and some sea spray and paper plant pollution episodes where the 'hygroscopic' particles attract water and 'rain' from the blue.
- Ricker888, on 02/11/2008, -2/+3way to show your ignorance by saying you didn't RTFA - if you did then you would see that he weekdays only consist of Tues - Thurs making it a better split.
- RandoTheKing, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1Took the words right out of my mouth.
- thebrawl, on 02/11/2008, -1/+5If I was rain, I wouldn't want to work on the weekends either.
- tdk337, on 02/11/2008, -0/+0I think that a study be made on why it rains on garbage day; wait, everyone has garbage day on different days don't they?
- serend, on 02/11/2008, -7/+28no comments 36 diggs front page top submitter coincidence?
- threemagic, on 02/11/2008, -0/+12maybe he uses punctuation?
i keed - ronaldmonster, on 02/11/2008, -6/+1Digg effect?
- yodaj007, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1You don't know what the Digg effect is, do you?
- threemagic, on 02/11/2008, -0/+12maybe he uses punctuation?
- eightfivezero, on 02/11/2008, -3/+20Wow, that was the exact same explanation I read some days ago for a theory that suggested it rains more on the weekend.
- mescad, on 02/11/2008, -3/+4I thought this was the accepted theory. I learned in Geology class in 1998 that pollution during the week helped hold the clouds off until the levels were lower on the weekend. It was presented as "why your picnics get ruined by rain."
- noahhoward, on 02/11/2008, -3/+3They even mention that, while they thought the particulate would seed the clouds, other research suggests that so much particulate inhibits rainfall. It's really just another sensationalist article that tries to link weather to pollution without really having a clue.
- mescad, on 02/11/2008, -3/+4I thought this was the accepted theory. I learned in Geology class in 1998 that pollution during the week helped hold the clouds off until the levels were lower on the weekend. It was presented as "why your picnics get ruined by rain."
- ICANSTANDIT, on 02/11/2008, -2/+4Not so in the Seattle (WA) area, folks! The opposite is true here.
- strafefire, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Or Tampa, Florida...Or Orlando...Or Jacksonville...hell damn near this whole state...
- campigenus, on 02/11/2008, -1/+0Here in Vancouver, B.C., we always ask "What comes after two days of rain?" And the answer is ... Monday.
- bbqsalad, on 02/11/2008, -3/+28Then why is it always so nice while im here at work and rainy and ***** on the weekends? Tell me why SCIENTIST.
- drgruney, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Because you're a pessimist... that or God hates you.
- calon9, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Are you the lorry driver from Dirk Gently?
- aloser, on 02/11/2008, -1/+4Anyone else think this was going to be satirical based on the title and description?
- TheOneTrueGod, on 02/11/2008, -3/+4Because I am pissed during the week. Hate my job. Will quit once king.
- rodknockin, on 02/11/2008, -8/+10Here's some more it's our fault *****......I guess we need more carbon taxes so it will rain more.
- noahhoward, on 02/11/2008, -4/+6To those burying him, he's right you know. The facts in the article suggest they don't know, the scientist even states 'correlation != causation' but that doesn't stop the article from sensationalising the possibility and blaming pollution for rain.
- pauldy, on 02/11/2008, -1/+3Since when does that stop diggers, they are the reason the jump to conclusions mat was invented.
- noahhoward, on 02/11/2008, -4/+6To those burying him, he's right you know. The facts in the article suggest they don't know, the scientist even states 'correlation != causation' but that doesn't stop the article from sensationalising the possibility and blaming pollution for rain.
- kidal25, on 02/11/2008, -1/+3It usually rains more on the weekends for me. Rain always ruins my weekend after a tough week at school.
- AntBing, on 02/11/2008, -0/+10The weeks get tougher after you get out of school...just a heads up.
- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -4/+1Not for those of us who had mean teachers. At least in the work world you can find another job. At school you had to stay in a class with a rotten teacher for an entire school year.
- countingthedays, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Sure, but only for an hour or so a day. You'll survive, kid.
- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -4/+1Not for those of us who had mean teachers. At least in the work world you can find another job. At school you had to stay in a class with a rotten teacher for an entire school year.
- AntBing, on 02/11/2008, -0/+10The weeks get tougher after you get out of school...just a heads up.
- Itazura, on 02/11/2008, -1/+6Garfield can't hate mondays if it always rained on the weekends.
- daxsymbiont, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1it could be the negative vibe of workdays.
or if you're not crazy a scientific explanation could suffice. - doctorfungi, on 02/11/2008, -2/+6The atmosphere has the ability to read the man-made calendar system?
- blast_flame, on 02/11/2008, -1/+8The real reason is that the air of depression and boredom weighs the water molicules down more, causing them to fall.
/sarc - DoctuhJason, on 02/11/2008, -3/+8Did anybody else think it had something to do with a Camero?
- digitalunit, on 02/11/2008, -1/+5Camaro*
- PRlME, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Why would you put a car there...this, this totally ***** my head man.
- OneLess, on 02/12/2008, -0/+1I was wondering how Chevy managed to design the Camaro to harness the power of the weather itself.
- gl77, on 03/31/2008, -1/+4i always wondered if washing your car had anything to do with it raining on certain days...i notice when its a really nice day and there are a lot of people washing their cars, later on in the afternoon, it always seems to rain, maybe its just coincidence, but maybe it has something to do with more moisture in the air from all of the car washing going on. maybe im just ***** nuts.
- noahhoward, on 02/11/2008, -2/+4Maybe mother nature is just a twisted bitch who likes to screw around with us.
- banido, on 02/11/2008, -4/+6God did it! In order for people to attend church so they wouldn't stay at home to avoid getting wet.
God is awesome!- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -2/+1Just in case you aren't being sarcastic- Since we were intended to attend church every day of the week that doesn't make a lot of sense. Acts 2:46
- Zipko, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1It just proves God's a golfer. We can't have the final round being rained out every sunday.
- greenwire, on 02/11/2008, -1/+4In Yorkshire you're guaranteed rain on every day of the week. The weather up North does not discriminate. Equal opportunities etc etc
- xxTazxx, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1At least it's somewhat consistent up there. Down south (London) you can't tell if its going to rain or just stay pregnant with clouds.
- greenwire, on 02/12/2008, -1/+0Yeah, I know. I live in London now. It seems to be lovely and warm during the day but $£"&^*&(^%% freezing first thing in the morning! Brrrrrrrrr!!
- xxTazxx, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1At least it's somewhat consistent up there. Down south (London) you can't tell if its going to rain or just stay pregnant with clouds.
- daxsymbiont, on 02/11/2008, -8/+3IT'S THE GOVERNMENT WITH THE SECRET SPRAYING OF THE ATMOSPHERE WITH SECRET PLANES THAT CAN'T BE SEEN OR HEARD.
(OR SMELLED)
THEY ARE INVISIBLE!
THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.
THEY ARE THE MEN IN BLACK.- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1I knew someone could come up with a commen sense answer.
- xyphur, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1...please elaborate on why you find it necessary to yell at all of us.
On second thought, don't bother. Instead, I'll just bury and ignore you for being a yammering buffoon. - drastik21, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Dale Gribble?
- CrazyArcher, on 02/11/2008, -3/+3This is ***** ridiculous.
- everslim101, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2...it does?
- DifferentAngle, on 02/11/2008, -2/+0Maybe people pray for good weekend weather much more often than good weekday weather.
- mattmollysdad, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2unless u have rented a summer property in the Hamptons or Fire Island... then it's beautiful all week and rains all weekend.
- waspbr, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2The person has obviously never been to the Netherlands...
- Treoinmypocket, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2Cool - now we know how to solve droughts. Hop in your car - preferably an older, poorly maintained model - and drive around like crazy!
Its the modern equivalent of the Indian Rain Dance.- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2Native American Rain Ceremony. It also raises a question. If so many tribes have settled (or been settled) in deserts, why is there not more rain there now?
- Sil3ncer7, on 02/11/2008, -2/+1You know why.. Ill tell you..
Global Warming...
... Everything gets blamed on Global Warming, so might as well throw this into the category...
...Global Warming is the biggest amount of *****. We (humans) think that we can fix everything, well lets not get to cocky.. The earth has been around for what 4.6/7 billion years... The earth is fine.. The people are *****... but thats another rant for another day...- milkmage, on 02/11/2008, -0/+2you're RIGHT - more cars on the roads during the week.
Summertime storms in the southeastern United States shed more rainfall midweek than on weekends, the study found. The cause could be the air pollution created by the daily grind—traffic and business operations....
They found it rains on average more between Tuesday and Thursday than from Saturday through Monday. The clearest day of the week was Saturday, with nearly twice the rainfall on the wettest day, Tuesday afternoon.
- milkmage, on 02/11/2008, -0/+2you're RIGHT - more cars on the roads during the week.
- mentol, on 02/11/2008, -2/+2I'm really not surprised it has something to do with pollution
- KayMan2k, on 02/11/2008, -1/+3I agree that this is silly. The seven day week is a man-made concept; there can be no natural cycle.
- milkmage, on 02/11/2008, -0/+2so what? there are more cars on the roads on the days humans decided will be weekdays.
Summertime storms in the southeastern United States shed more rainfall midweek than on weekends, the study found. The cause could be the air pollution created by the daily grind—traffic and business operations....
- milkmage, on 02/11/2008, -0/+2so what? there are more cars on the roads on the days humans decided will be weekdays.
- chall85, on 02/11/2008, -2/+2They've known this for years.
- Iggins, on 02/11/2008, -3/+2Buried for having Yahoo in the address....
- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1Dugg down for having yahoo in the comment.
- tomski, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1Actually scientists found out that due to traffic exhaustions during the week, it rains more at the weekend. I read this last summer somwhere on the net.
- Jashobeam5, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1If you read it on the net, then it has to be true.
- fridgetarian, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1You are smarter than the rest! It's not like the particulates just disappear from the air overnight...there's a big lag time making the weekends more rainy and probably making the beginning of the week nicer. The EXCEPTION would be California, which probably does get nice weekends since it's bathed in fresh pacific air...so LA's Friday rush hour means we get soaked! Although, they might get some of China's super pollution a bit worse than the rest of N. America. Hmmm....seems like a complicated equation, who would've thought?
- jclin, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1There's only one way to test this argument. We need to add two extra Mondays in a row and see if the trend shifts with the added days. Who's with me?!
- Vo0Ds, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2buried for being rubbish, didn't even bother to RTFA, it rains more at the weekends.
- DrewTheITGuy, on 02/11/2008, -1/+2The next study will be about why it rains the day after we wash our cars!!
- tgoose, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1QI says it rains more at weekends because of a dust cycle brought about by heavy industry. Thou shalt not doubt Stephen Fry.
Hence, buried as inaccurate - theratdotus, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1wtf is this? did you know it was sunnier during the daytime hours then the nightime hours?
- rayzar, on 02/11/2008, -1/+1this is the stupidest thing i have ever read... and coming from NASA?? oh god, first of all, there are less weekend days as to weekdays. And second of all, it does not really support how weather patterns falls. This is just so irrelevant, unless used for data collection for a certain period of time in certain days in a certain area... otherwise, not realistic nor reliable.
- jargonaut, on 02/11/2008, -0/+0Is that a large enough sample? 1998 to 2005, that's only about 350 weeks to use in the study. Scientists Schmientists
- RichardDavies, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Obviously, they've never lived in Portland...
- acidwire90, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Shenanigans.
we get rain here on the weekend almost all the time. - grungegbunny, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1I could have swore I read a report a few years ago claiming that it rained more on weekends.
- glimp7, on 02/11/2008, -3/+1glimp7: Ooooooo!!! I KNOW! Because there are only two days in the weekend and five during the week.
Yahoo: Wrong!
glimp7: (Damn)
Digg: Lol. (Dumbass) - cuoops, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1source - http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/ ...
- rarson, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1I call ***** on the pollution reasoning. Most people have relatively short commutes to work, and then they sit inside all day. The weekend is the time to get out and do stuff, which usually requires driving... which sometimes itself is an activity. Not to mention things like driving to the grocery store or the laundromat. So if anything, I would guess the average person probably drives a lot more on the weekend than during the week.
Not me, though, I tend to drive a lot for my job.
Perhaps the pollution is peaking midweek because of the build-up from the weekend. - dubbs688, on 02/11/2008, -0/+0If air pollution is the cause of more rain during the week, then areas in larger cities, and around factories would see more rain all the time. I wonder if they compared that data in their study. Also, instead of a Saturday-Monday, it seems that a Friday-Sunday would have been better comparison, since on Friday's there are people who do not work, because they work 10 hour shifts in a 40 hour work week. Most companies want their employees to be at work on Monday, so most people who work the 10 hour shifts work that day also. Seems to me that they came up with some data that only fit Saturday - Monday, and claimed that is the case, and just blamed it on air pollution. I understand how air pollution could cause the issue, but it just seems strange that they did not compare the data to other locations, like I stated in the first sentence.
- funkytaco, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Because of Bumblebee?
- MeNorski, on 02/11/2008, -0/+1Dugg for the picture of the Camaro
- tdk337, on 02/11/2008, -0/+0A calendar is a system of organizing periods of time and is man made. The calendar in use today is not the only calendar system in the world. The fact that it rains less on our weekends is purely coincidental and is questionable.
- thunderforce, on 02/11/2008, -0/+0That's the power of WISHFUL THINKING!!
Rain hard during the week, so I cannot make it to work!
DON'T RAIN in the weekends so I can have FUN!!!
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