The District, with all its marble monuments and splendid architecture, seemed to go almost unseen at times on Saturday, its glories fading in the fog-bedecked distance amid the seemingly incessant onslaught of rain and mist.
In front of them hung a curtain of gray raindrops, one that in many places carried a faint hint of pale green. That touch of color was the contribution of trees, just beginning the process of growing leaves.
At 5 p.m., the National Weather Service reported that visibility here, normally 10 miles, had been cut to a mile and a half. Earlier it was reduced to three-quarters of a mile at Washington Dulles International Airport.
By 6 p.m., Washington’s precipitation amounted to more than half an inch. Cars hissed through the water-slick streets. Passing through puddles in some places, they left splashes in their wake.
Fortunately, by yesterday’s date, Washington’s weather shared many of the attributes of spring.
These attributes may have included the day’s thunderstorm, which was reported by the weather service and is generally associated with warmer weather.
An east wind was in evidence, but its speed was confined to less than 15 mph, at least through 4 p.m. And daytime temperatures never fell below 44.
Conditions in the capital could with justice and without taking liberties, be called inhospitable. Yet Saturday may have fallen just a bit short of the requirements for being regarded as both raw and rainy.
For the temperature, even despite the day’s discouraging look, did reach into the 50s. As of 4 p.m., the high was 52 degrees. That may have promoted the virtues of indoor warmth. But it was only two degrees below the average for Washington for March 9.
And in contrast to its usual practice, as evening drew near, the mercury actually rose. In the hour between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., it reached 54 degrees, the average high for the date. It was an indication, perhaps, that we are in March, a month of transition and change.
It has certainly been a month of moisture. Of the nine days thus far in March, seven, including Saturday, have brought measurable rain. Of them, Saturday by day’s end became the month’s wettest.
In fact, with 0.81 inches recorded by day’s end, Saturday was Washington’s wettest day since Jan. 28. That day’s rainfall was 1.26 inches.
