as seen on phillyBurbs.com

Rain pain
Rainy weekends and sunny Mondays get me down.

Hello, Seattle. Enjoy the sun today!

That's right, Philadelphia and its suburbs have apparently swapped places with that Northwestern city, at least when it comes to the rainy weather.

Since June 1, our region has been soaked with 3.65 inches of rain while Seattle has not had significant precipitation since May 27, according to Carl Cerniglia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

And since Jan. 1, Philly has gotten 21.06 inches of precipitation - 2.84 inches more than normal, according to the National Weather Service's Web site. Seattle, on the other hand, has gotten 20.14 inches.

"Thanks for taking our rain," Cernaglia said, laughing.

The Northwest is known for its cloudy and gloomy days. But Cernaglia said that's normally only from October through March. In the other months, his region gets plenty of sun.

"For the year, I'd put money on it, that we get less rain than you do in Philly," Cernaglia said, then proved it. For the record, the Philadelphia region averages 41.4 inches of precipitation compared to 38.4 inches in Seattle.

In fact, he said statistics show Seattle normally gets twice as many sunny days in July than we do - 32.6 percent of the month's days have clear skies over that city compared to just 16.6 percent here.

That trend has apparently started a little early this year.

On Saturday, Seattle hit 90 degrees - 22 degrees above normal, breaking a record that has stood since 1948. Meanwhile, heavy showers dumped 1.2 inches of rain our region and the overcast skies kept the temperature down to 65 - 14 degrees below normal.

It was just the latest in a long run of rainy weekends for us. In May, there was at least some measurable precipitation on 29 of 31 days.

"There's a fairly static pattern on the East Coast right now and the ocean temperature is still fairly cool," Cernaglia said. As for the rainy weekends, he noted, "It's just chance. The weather doesn't set itself up on our calendar.

"I did read a paper once that said generally, the Northeast receives more precipitation on Friday and Saturday because the pollution builds up during the work week and the rain can gradually form around it."

Darn commuters. If you can, please take the bus this week as the forecast is for fairly nice weather. That is, until Thursday and Friday.

Here, we go again.

BORED? GOT A SPORTS QUESTION? TRY THIS...

Want to call me at work?

Try me at 215-ANY-5051.

Can't remember that? Ok, how about 215-BOX-5051 or 215-BOWL-051?

There's always, 215-BOY-5051.

They are all the same numbers. They just look different.

To find out what your phone number spells, go to www22.verizon.com/Vanity/.

Dave Ralis' Pave The Grass column appears on Mondays. You can send him an e-mail at  or call him at 215-269-5051. To read his previous columns, click here.