On the first day of a holiday weekend named for a seafaring man, Washington’s skies seemed appropriately overcast, as if telling us to batten the hatches in anticipation of heavy weather.

       Moreover, any historically prompted dreams of deep water found encouragement Saturday in what the National Weather Service described in a Tweet as “easterly breezes transporting moisture from the Atlantic into the region.”

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       By 9 p.m., however, the start of the Columbus Day weekend had remained without noticeable rain, despite displaying a collection of clouds that seemed a fitting backdrop for a strong spell of storminess.

       And if our hours of cloudy suspense were finally to culminate in rain, it did not seem as if we could complain about the cruelty of our meteorological fate..

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       October, with persistently warmer than average temperatures, has also been drier than average.

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       Saturday’s 74-degree high was two above average for the date, yet only one day this month was cooler: Wednesday, which had a 73-degree high.

       Wednesday was also our only day of measurable rain. Its meager 0.02 inches was all we could show for the month, more than an inch below average.

       But Saturday, with its clouds in gray ranks running to the horizon, with its sense of moisture on the northeast wind, at least implied that in time, we would see wet days and even chilly ones.