Whither the weather

Having just passed through Memorial Day weekend and the customary complaining that the weather never holds up, I remembered a really cool fact from my college days. That fact in a paragraph or so…

First, many urbanites have this underlying suspicion that the weather is always nicer (read: sunnier and warmer) on Mondays than on the weekend. While the meteorologist on the local news is too busy wearing a cute hat or interview John Q. lawnmower, some fascinating studies reinforce something I found out about in Environmental Chemistry several years back.

The weather on the weekend actually is different. One study explores temperature variations across the United States and concludes that human activity is responsible. Another clearly shows that in Atlantic states rain is more likely during the weekend than it is Monday thru Wednesday. For nerdier, comment-laden coverage of this phenomenon, check out the article on Slashdot from 2003.

What’s remarkable is that we’ve basically screwed ourselves. The increased activity on the workweek – rush hours, factories running, computers computing – means more “stuff” in the air. When the weekend rolls around, this stuff interacts with the atmosphere to make the weather less ideal for outdoor activity. And then just as we’ve given up all hope, we find beautiful, sunny skies just as we head to work on Monday.

All the more reason to lobby for the 4-day work week :-)