Bloomsday likely will be cool, mostly dry

This Sunday is one of Spokane’s, and the rest of the Inland Northwest’s favorite events, Bloomsday. This annual tradition, also known as the Lilac Bloomsday Run, was born during the running boom that swept the nation in the late 1970s.

The inaugural Bloomsday Run was on May 1, 1977 and was billed as “Run with the Stars.” This event featured Olympic gold and silver medalist Frank Shorter, who finished first in the race. Bloomsday founder and local runner Don Kardong finished third.

More than 1,000 runners, or Bloomies, participated in the first Bloomsday. Since then, the field has grown substantially. By the second year, more than 5,000 runners joined in. By 1988, the total grew to approximately 57,300 runners. Bloomsday participation reached its all-time high of 61,298 in 1996 with impressive numbers expected this year as well.

Most Bloomsday runners, if not all of them, hope for ideal weather conditions on race day. At this time of year, the average high temperature is 63 degrees with an average low of 40 degrees. Since 1977, there have been 19 Bloomsdays with temperatures within 10 degrees of the average high and 19 days that have been dry. Although many years have seen favorable weather conditions, Bloomsday has seen its share of extremes.

For example, on May 6, 1984, about one to two inches of snow fell before the race began. Throughout that morning, runners experienced a rain and snow mix as temperatures remained in the 30s until the early afternoon. The official high temperature for that chilly day was only 47 degrees. There was another cold Bloomsday on May 2, 1999. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., .07 inches of rain fell with temperatures holding in the chilly upper 30s and lower 40s. Winds occasionally gusted to 15 to 20 miles per hour making it uncomfortable for spectators and runners alike.

On the flip side, the first Bloomsday run was one of the warmest. Temperatures at the start of the race were near 70 degrees. By the early afternoon, readings climbed into the upper 70s. May 4, 1980 was another warm day with a starting race temperature of 55 degrees. By 2 p.m. it was a warm 78 degrees. The official high for that day, as well as the one in 1977, was 81 degrees.

Bloomsday has also seen a thunderstorm. On May 5, 2002, a thunderstorm dropped small hail and sent temperatures falling into the lower 40s with winds gusting to 25 miles per hour. During the race, 0.07 inches of precipitation was measured.

There have been a number of Bloomsdays with winds gusting to 10 to 20 miles per hour. The windiest Bloomsday was on May 6, 1990. During that blustery day, gusts during the race were over 30 miles per hour. By the early evening, a peak gust of 46 miles per hour was recorded.

Weather conditions for this Sunday’s race may be good for the runners and not bad for the rest of us. As of this midweek writing, it looks like it will be cool and mostly dry for the 2007 Bloomsday event, so take your jacket if you’re planning to go and cheer for the runners.

Longer term, I still don’t see any big storms arriving in our part of the country until at least around mid-May. Until then, we’ll continue to see a rather nice weather pattern of “sun and showers” of the hit-and-miss variety.

The mid-May through mid-June period still appears to be potentially the wettest part of the spring of 2007. There should be several thunderstorms that may produce some areas of lowland flooding, particularly in regions affected in the past few years on a regular basis due to the combination of warm spring rains and increased mountain snowpack runoff.