Start.  Stop.  Start.  Stop. Tuesday’s weather in a nutshell.

I hung out on a few street corners this morning, waiting for people with umbrellas to walk by an interesting and colorful background.

Had a gentleman call the police on me because he didn’t believe I was with the Press Democrat.  Excuse me, I was on a public sidewalk. I didn’t photograph him anyway, he lacked an umbrella.

Had a very unstable man cuss me out near ZAP at Fifth and B Street for wearing a baseball cap.  He didn’t have an umbrella, no picture there either.

Undeterred, I finally came across a nice scene on the east side of Courthouse Square when Sebastopol resident Linda Jones passed by Rendez Vous Bistro walking her and a friends dog.

She had an umbrella.

Dog walker Linda Jones of Sebastopol doesn't let a smattering of precipitation deter her from exercising Gracie and Roxie, Tuesday May 25, 2010 as they pass by Rendez Vous Bistro in downtown Santa Rosa. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2010

Okay.  It’s not that unusual to have rain in May.  As a kid, I remember plenty of Memorial Day camp-outs rained out. What we have here is an El Nino pattern after three years of drought.  That spoiled us.  The good news is that Memorial Day weekend should be pretty nice. Really!

Before that though, Sonoma County will have steady rain through  Tuesday evening with only scattered showers Wednesday.

Thursday, as another upper low ramps up off the coast of British Columbia we will once again see rain over NorCal.  If the sun shines through during any breaks in the clouds with the Thursday storm, T-storms could develop. Something like the picture below, shot Friday May 21.

A late season thunderstorm (sans thunder) moves east over Larkfield, Friday May 21, 2010. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2010

-Kent Porter