Bloomsday likely will be wet – but maybe not too wet

Bloomsday participants wanting to donate their jackets by tossing them atop the branches of Riverside Avenue street trees – as is the Bloomsday starting line tradition – might want to wait little longer on Sunday.

Rain is in the forecast, as is chilly weather.

The National Weather Service predicts it to be around 43 degrees at the start of the race, and it may not crack 50 by the time the last finisher reaches the Monroe Street Bridge.

There’s a 92% chance of rain throughout the race.

The good news is, no thunderstorms are expected, and precipitation might be the kind of rain appreciated by runners.

From 5 a.m. to 11 a.m., there is only a 20% chance of a quarter of an inch or more falling. And there’s a 65% chance that less than a tenth of an inch falls in that six-hour stretch, Butler said.

“Not like a downpour or anything, and certainly not a sprinkle, but I would call it just a steady, light rain,” said Daniel Butler, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

He suggests participants check in on the weather report closer to the race.

Bloomies have been lucky in recent years, rarely having to contend with much rain. Weather service reports indicate that the last Bloomsday with a decent amount of rain was in 2002.

But a starting temperature of 43 degrees isn’t unusual.

Since 2010, it’s been that cold or colder at 8 a.m. in Spokane five times on the first Sunday in May (including 2020, when the race wasn’t held).