Befitting a soggy spring in the Northeast, The New York Times ran an extensive list of names for rain. Collected by Ben Schott, author of Schott's Miscellany and other collections of worthwhile trivia, the 135-item list contained both ordinary and obscure pluvial terms. Here are some of the more notable and perhaps useful:
- Bedrabble - to make wet and dirty with rain
- Bicker - the pattering of rain
- Blash - when rain falls in sheets (blow + splash)
- Dagged - wet with dew or light rain
- Driffle - to rain in spare drops
- Drow - a cold misty rain
- Flaught - a sudden burst of wind and rain
- Heat-Drop - a few drops of rain at the start of a hot day
- Hot Gleam - a bright, warm spell between showers
- Impluvious - wet with rain
- Line-Squall - a violent straight blast of cold air with rain or snow
- Mizzle - a very fine misty rain
- Onion Rain - that which falls late in the spring after the onions have been planted
- Pluvial - characterized by rain
- Scud - a driving shower
- Serein - fine rain that falls out of a cloudless sky
- Sile - to pour down
- Smur - a fine drizzle
- Still Rain - gentle rain with no wind
- Tirl - the sound of rain on a roof
- Travado - a sudden violent storm
