Whether or not it rains a week from now where you live may seem mostly random, but a long enough data record will likely reveal rainfall patterns that repeat over hours, months, or years. Atmospheric scientists describe some of these repeating patterns as cycles and others as oscillations. There are annual and daily precipitation cycles tied to the variation of the sun's path across the sky [1]. An example of precipitation affected by time of day is that summer thunderstorms occur predominantly in afternoon or early evening along the East Coast of the United States. An example of seasonal
