With more than 3 inches of rain already on the books for June, the forecasters out at Sterling say we can expect mostly cloudy skies and at least a chance for more showers and thunderstorms straight through Monday. The nearest day rated at least "mostly" sunny comes next Tuesday.

But hey... school is out, and if your old unconverted analog TV winks out today you'll have all the reason you need to get outside and enjoy. Splash in the puddles, maybe.

The culprit once again is a weak cold front hovering to our north. It's expected to push slowly across the region today, setting off scattered showers and thunderstorms along the way as sunshine peeks through and gets the still humid atmosphere stirred up. 

Things will slowly begin to dry a little Saturday, as the front drops down to the Virginia/Carolina border. But we'll still run a small risk of showers and storms. And the wet weather returns Sunday as a low-pressure system moves into the mid-Atlantic and pushes the old cold front back north across the region as a warm front. We won't get things truly cleared out until late Monday or Tuesday, when sunny skies return with highs near 80 degrees.

So far, June 2009 has continued the wet pattern established in early April. But June has been an unusually wet month for some time. Only three Junes of the last 10 have had less-than-average rainfall.

Thirty-year average:  3.43 inches

2009:  3.11 inches  *

2008:  3.70 inches

2007:  2.20 inches 

2006:  7:32 inches

2005:  3.74 inches

2004:  4.17 inches

2003:  6.96 inches

2002:  2.39 inches

2001:  3.58 inches

2000:  5.54 inches

1999:  2.04 inches

* Through 10 a.m. June 12