When God was upset with mankind and the direction taken, he charged Noah to build an ark and gather every animal — two-by-two — and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. In Central Pennsylvania it hasn’t reached that stage, but it has been close.
“We’ve been stuck in a rut that we haven’t seen in the past few years,” said Accu-Weather meteorologist Brian Pappalardi. “There is relief in sight. We have started to see a shift in the weather from the cool rainy conditions, to the warmer, more humid rainfalls.”
Believe it or not, the rainfall amount in Altoona is lower than 2002. This year, between April 1 and June 12, 10.81 inches of rain has fallen. In 2002, Altoona received 11.68 inches and in 2001 the accumulation was 5.38 inches. The average rainfall for Altoona over that 40 plus day period is 8.8 inches.
“We have had fronts stalling over our region and the cool high pressure systems that came from Canada were not powerful enough to push out the fronts,” said Pappalardi. “We are starting to see a change in the jet stream which will start bringing a change in the weather.”
The 40 days and 40 nights of rain were not that far of a stretch. In the last 43 days, from May 1 through June 12, there have been five days in which it did not rain. There were four days without rain in May and one thus far in June.
“I’m sick of forecasting this weather that we have been having,” said Pappalardi. “The cool, rainy days are numbered. People are looking forward to real summer and there is a dry stretch on the way.”
According to Pappalardi, the gloomy weather today and tomorrow will be the end for a while.
“There should be a shower or thunderstorm tomorrow as this pattern moves out,” said Pappalardi. “We should see dry and sunny conditions Sunday through Wednesday, a shower on Thursday and then another dry period after that.”
This weather pattern has played havoc with area farmers and gardeners.
Many of the residents of the area that have gardens haven’t had the opportunity to even plant anything yet.
One resident said, “how am I going to plant anything in this mud.”
