Weather and beaches perfect together

I took my family to the beach in Point Pleasant last weekend, once again enjoying what has been an extraordinary year for weather. It got me to thinking. Not only couldn't I recall any summer weekends that were a washout, I couldn't remember any weekend days in which the weather kept me from going to the beach or mowing the lawn.
To confirm my recollections, I called state climatologist David Robinson - New Jersey meteorology's answer to baseball's Elias Sports Bureau. There isn't any question he can't answer. Answers to most questions can be found on his Office of the State Climatologist Web site, which provides weather data dating back to 1895. But I wanted to know how many times it rained on weekend days this summer.
Not surprisingly, he didn't need to look up the answer. He already had researched it. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, there were only three weekend afternoons at the Shore that had any measurable precipitation - 1/100th of an inch or more. I recall two occasions when I left the beach early because of late afternoon thunderstorms.
What makes the great beach weekends, which have extended well into October, even more remarkable is that total rainfall this summer was about average. Most of the rain fell Monday through Friday. Rainfall for the year also is likely to be about average, which in New Jersey is about 42 inches. Average annual rainfall in New Jersey may be the most predictable thing about the weather. Over the past 10 years, it has deviated more than 3 inches from the average just twice.