The five weeks leading to summer started Friday, but in the District, Friday was also a day of overcast that concluded two weeks of clouds or rain.
However, Friday may have failed to live up to the lofty expectations that exist for this season of long days. After all, these are the days in spring and summer when the expanse of time between sunrise and sunset is at its yearly maximum.
On Friday, the sun rose several minutes before 6 a.m. and set a minute after 8:15 p.m. according to the National Weather Service website. Daylight lasted in Washington for 14 hours and 33 minutes. On June 20, the year’s longest day, daylight persists for only about 17 minutes more.
But that period of more than 14 hours, with all its potential for unhurried pleasure under a bright sun, may not be appreciated fully on a day like Friday.
According to the observations of the Weather Service, the sky appeared mostly cloudy when the sun came up. Overcast was the description applied for the hours thereafter.
As the sun prepared to descend in the west, Friday’s skies remained observably overcast. The sun seemed difficult if not impossible to find. The visual dimness probably diminished the potential for delight possessed by almost any day so close to June and summer.
The seeming dullness was not without precedent, consequence or precipitation. It rained a little on Friday, making it the 12th day in the past 14 on which at least a few drops were wrung out of the often-cloudy skies over the capital.
Nevertheless, almost any day in springtime offers satisfactions which may show up on closer scrutiny.
On Friday, the high temperature in Washington in the afternoon was 69 degrees.
At this time of year, it is often warmer than that; the average high temperature for May 17 is 77, eight degrees more. Last year, the high for May 17 was 75 degrees.
But Friday possessed a certain thermal consistency, giving no surprises. From the hours after midnight through the hours of early evening, the temperature never differed greatly from the high of 69.
As of 5 p.m. the day’s low temperature was 64, so that while the sun’s absence might have been deplored, and blue skies welcomed, Washington was not subjected to any severe chill.
