The group chat had been filled with balloon and champagne emojis for days. At last, Candace Neilsa and five friends who live across New York City had managed to pick a date to have a “girls’ night out.”
But when that date, Sept. 29, came, the rain, too, followed — just as it seemingly has every recent weekend in the New York City area, turning what many hoped would have been blissful free days of sunshine into gray afternoons and evenings, with overcast skies casting a damp, moody pall over the city. The clouds have essentially ruined many New Yorkers’ plans.
Perhaps Ms. Neilsa, a model in Bushwick, captured the vibe perfectly: “I’m not going to lie, this sucks,” she said.
At first, the weather seemed just a string of bad luck. A weekend in August lost to an annoying drizzle, but no problem. Then another weekend lost in September — then again, and again, and again, until finally, it was hard to be outside and soaked this last Saturday and not think that some mysterious force was bent on drenching the city as soon as each workweek ended.
In fact, for six weekends, New Yorkers have been drenched by a steady stream from above, making for soggy pumpkin picking, muddy Central Park concerts and damp dinner outings. And there appears to be no relief coming: It will likely rain again this Saturday, even if that will not be the case during the weekdays.
Even John Murray, a meteorologist with the New York City Weather Office, has been surprised by the onslaught of weekend precipitation, despite below-average rainfall for the month: “What a coincidence, right?”
There have only been 12 weekends without rain this year in Central Park, with the other 30 falling anywhere from drizzly to washouts. You’d have to return to the Labor Day weekend to find the last consecutive dry Saturday and Sunday at the park.
Even on Monday, as residents in parks and coffee shops across the city enjoyed a sunny and breezy autumn afternoon, there was as much resentment for some New Yorkers as there has been humidity in the air.
In Astoria, Queens, Scarlet Taylor, a librarian, was sitting in Athens Square Park, sipping coffee and feeling, frankly, quite annoyed that the weather had not been as pleasant on Saturday, Oct. 7, when she had planned to go to Queens Night Market, a celebrated, open-air gathering of independent vendors showcasing food, art and merchandise from across the world.
That Saturday, she had been craving the potato dumplings with spicy sauce from Go Green Yaks, a vendor at the market, before a message came from the organizers, who said on Instagram that the event would have to be canceled “yet again” because of rain.
“It’s heartbreaking for us to do this,” the Queens Night Market organizers said in a statement. “We’ve never needed to cancel nearly as many nights in a single year for weather safety concerns.”
Other businesses and events are also seeing negative effects of the bad weekend weather. The Amazing Maize Maze at the Queens County Farm Museum had to close its show two Saturdays in a row, bars in Manhattan are seeing less clientele, and at the Pancakes and Booze Art Show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a large blue tarp was protecting local artists’ work from downpours on Saturday.
Central Park’s Great Lawn, the 12-acre oval of green space that is one of the most popular gathering places in Manhattan, will be closed to the public until April, after downpours contributed to damage in the area during a concert late last month.
The timing of the rainfalls is particularly hard to stomach, residents said, because of how beloved fall in New York City is.
Alice Young, who moved to Brooklyn from Houston in May, said she had been looking forward all summer to spending a Saturday this fall at Central Park, as she pictured the orange and yellow leaves scattered throughout. But she woke up on Saturday to the sound of rain pelting her apartment window. Again.
“It’s sort of become a meme at this point,” Ms. Young said. “Like every single Saturday it’s raining? That’s got to be a sign from something, like, ‘We don’t want you to enjoy your weekend.’”
Those training for this year’s New York City Marathon on Nov. 5 have faced a particularly hellish option on Saturdays in recent weeks: Stick to training and try to avoid puddles while running in the rain, or skip a session and risk underperforming at the marathon.
Jose Bravo Jr., 42, of the Boogie Down Bronx Runners club, said he is training for his first marathon and has gotten advice from fellow runners about how it’s good to practice running in the rain because one never knows what the weather will be like on the main day.
“And that quickly wore off,” he said, “because now it’s every Saturday.”
When he runs, the rain pelts his face. He prays the reflective clothing does its job and no one driving with reduced visibility hits him. And he hears his wet shoes slosh on pavement, each step causing water to ooze out as if from a squeezed sponge.
“It’s two kiddie-pools just attached to my feet, and I’m like, ‘Oh jeez,’” Mr. Bravo said. “Then they become weights, because the water weighs it down.”
Of course, the characteristic grit and flair of New York has been on display despite these wet weekends: At clubs and bars, there are umbrellas in one hand, a drink in another; at parks, dogs show off colorful raincoats.
Some have tried to make the most it. Nicholas Segura, 19, reminisced about the cozy evening he spent inside with his husband on Saturday. (They had planned to visit Little Island, a $260 million park that opened in 2021.)
Genesis Urena said the rain did not stop her from going clubbing and singing karaoke at La Macarena near Times Square in Manhattan on Saturday night.
Still, the ever-present rain has felt like a marker of time for many, including for Kevin Driskell, 20, who was taking a break from work on Monday at a park in Long Island City.
Two months ago, he traveled to Long Island on a rainy Saturday and met his ex partner to pick up some belongings. On the train ride back home to Queens, he looked out at a gray sky, which only made his dejection feel worse.
Soon, though, he met someone else. On Saturday, Mr. Driskell texted her. They had not been able to hang out on a Saturday night for four weeks — because of the weather. But last weekend, he hoped the rain wouldn’t dissuade her from a date. Was she free for dinner?
“Well,” she said in a text, “I don’t like going outside when it’s raining.”