Here comes the rain...

[brenda1966]

so, with my pending arrival the weather in WDW is about to take a turn for the worse -- happens every time! Rain every day in the forecast so far. So, what does 60% mean? Should I expect to spend 60% of my time in a poncho? What about my plans to go to a water park? I guess it doesn't matter if it's raining when you're at a water park, right?!

Rain, rain, go away!!

[crazycatlady]

You must be going the same time as we are. I stopped looking when it said rain Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm assuming it's rain for Thursday now too?
We spend the first few days of our trip in Alabama and it is supposed to be beautiful. The first trip we took with the kids to DW, it rained every day except for the day before we left and the day we were driving out of town. I'm really hoping the weathermen are wrong.....

[brenda1966]

Thursday hasn't posted yet, but Sunday and Monday have dropped from 60% down to 20% and 30%. So, maybe good news?

Last year when we were there the temps dropped so much we didn't get to swim. I'm not sure why we always hit bad weather!

[Greenfield1984]

fairly certain that even if it was 60% thats only a 60 percent chance of rain during the day. So it may only rain for like 5 minutes and thats it. I actually look at the precipitation too to give an idea as to how much rain. I'm going at the same time too and it looks like they are only getting 1 mm of rain today (tuesday). so i doubt that'll be 60% of the day. the nice thing about rain in orlando (from what i've seen) is that it comes, does its business, and then moves along promptly.

[sdickison]

Not sure where your getting your weather information at. But it hasn't rained here in days I live in Orando. We did have a temp drop Sunday and yesterday. Back close to 80 today and mid to upper 80's the rest of the week. Saturday is forcasted to be about 77 degrees well below average for this time of year. And if it does rain, it will probably be maybe 5 minutes. As we are in the dry season right now until May of next year. We already have had a brush fire going on down here due to lack of rain here. If you see a 20% or 30% chance of rain, that usually means it probably won't rain. If it does rain it will be in the late afternoon early evening for a short period of time. Not a wash out.. According to the forecast I saw yesterday there was only one day with a chance of rain and that is Saturday when the temps dip to the upper 70's. I don't think your gonna have the wash out with the rain like you think. Our rain seasons is pretty much over with.

Originally Posted by brenda1966

so, with my pending arrival the weather in WDW is about to take a turn for the worse -- happens every time! Rain every day in the forecast so far. So, what does 60% mean? Should I expect to spend 60% of my time in a poncho? What about my plans to go to a water park? I guess it doesn't matter if it's raining when you're at a water park, right?!

Rain, rain, go away!!

[rocknspots]

Thanks, Scott. I'm coming in from California... cruising Saturday for 7 nights and then spending 7 days at WDW. Nice of you to post the weather. The sites such as NOAA & Intellicast sound so bleak. I've packed my poncho and don't care much about the rain. It's Disney afterall.

[nittanyliongirl02]

I just checked the weather myself as my parents arrive in Orlando on Sunday for a week vacation. The key is that it is says "scattered" thunderstorms. You know what that means.....quick FL shower then it goes away. Bring your umbrellas, bring your ponchos/slickers and enjoy! Besides, think of the bright side.....the parks are less crowded when it rains!

I'd pick that anyday over the cold weather here in NJ!

[Uno Mas]

Accuweather in Orlando is showing 88 for this Saturday - where are you seeing that it drops to 77? It's also showing only one day of rain from now until next Monday - on Monday. "Cloudy with a couple of showers." This is the accuweather you link to from magicalmountain.net - perhaps there's a more accurate source someone local could share? Seems we all have mixed reports!

[seashoreCM]

You might want to find (not easy) a narrative of what weather systems are arriving when and how long they will be around. This will give a better idea of how long it might rain. On TV the weather maps usually have solid versus spotty color to suggest major storms versus scattered showers. A 60% chance of rain means that given 100 days for which a 60% chance of rain was forecast, it did rain sometime on about 60 of those days. Now the weatherman could come up with a probability that it will rain for more than one hour, for more than two hours, and so on but it would be much more work for the weatherman and also present so many numbers as to confuse the radio listener or TV viewer or newspaper reader.

OT: It's Friday night in Boston.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

[richmo]

When we were there in August, there was a 60% chance of rain posted just about every day for two weeks. And, I think 12 of those 14 days it did rain. However, I recall putting on the poncho only one time. The rain was usually a typical Florida shower -- you could literally see it coming, it rained hard and was over in no more than 10-20 minutes.

[Ms. WDW]

Originally Posted by brenda1966

So, what does 60% mean? Should I expect to spend 60% of my time in a poncho?

I don't think so. The weather in Florida changes daily. When I was watchin the forecast for my trip two weeks ago, it went from 80% to 20% in three days. When I see 60% I figure I'll back the poncho just incase; for the afternoon usually.

Have a great trip and don't fret!!

[sdickison]

I work at a local TV station and that was the forecast we gave yesterday. I don't know about the accuweather forecast linked from magicalmountain.net, I live here and that is what we forecasted. You should probably check the local TV station websites here in Orlando to get a more localized forecast. But a cold front is coming in this weekend. I just checked the website for where I work and it says Coastal Showers Tue through Friday. The 77 drop is on Sunday not Saturday now. Saturday says 85 and a 40% chance of showers. Wed 85, Thur 87, Fri 89, Sat 85, Sun 77, Mon 84.

Originally Posted by Uno Mas

Accuweather in Orlando is showing 88 for this Saturday - where are you seeing that it drops to 77? It's also showing only one day of rain from now until next Monday - on Monday. "Cloudy with a couple of showers." This is the accuweather you link to from magicalmountain.net - perhaps there's a more accurate source someone local could share? Seems we all have mixed reports!

[Feralpeg]

It means you have very little chance of seeing rain. If it does rain, it will be very spotty and not last long. We have a chance of rain almost every day in the Orlando area. Very rarely do we see prolonged rain. Most of the time, it is a quick shower and it is gone. Enjoy the sunshine!

[brenda1966]

I hope you are all correct! I use the weather channel web site. The forecast keeps changing. Sunday is back up to 81 degrees and Tuesday is now the only day with 60% rain.

I'm hopeful, however my past 2 years experience has not been good. 2 years ago we only had one non-rainy, sunny day. The other 6 were rain off and on most of the day: ponchos on, ponchos off, ponchos on. One year ago the temps dipped down and we were wearing hats and gloves at the Halloween party and it was too cold to hit the pool all week (although we did go in the hot tub).

[TGaines107]

Any day at a Disney Park (even with rain) is better than a day at work!
Showers are always a possibility but look at it this way, most of the rides
and their lines are covered. Also, you can get into shops/restaurants if you
have your DDRs. Wear a smile and have fun in the rain. Take a moment to
ride POOH and chuckle at their rainy misfortune!