If there was one word to describe the weather the Vineyard has been experiencing now for weeks, it is Seattle — that northwest city that has a reputation for its gray, rainy weather.

It’s been like that on the Vineyard this spring. Skies are often gray and there is unscheduled rain, making it hard to plan the day.

The weather improved a bit mid-week with some sun, although temperatures remained quite cool. But according to the National Weather Service New England is caught in a cycle that just won’t quit.

Neal Strauss, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, said the jet stream, the river of air that passes 25,000 feet overhead, is too far south compared to where it usually is this time of year.

Mr. Strauss said the jet stream is behaving as it usually does in the winter, and as a result much of the energy that is passing over our heads is coming from the Pacific Northwest.

“The moisture and energy from the low pressure is moving from the Northern Pacific, and it is carving out a trough in the Northeast. It creates this large area of unsettled weather,” Mr. Strauss said.

“It looks like the pattern is going to continue for at least another five to seven days,” he added.

Though rain has come often, the amount has not been significant. In the first half of June, the Vineyard has had 12 days of measurable precipitation, according to the National Weather Service cooperative station in Edgartown. Most of the rainfall amounts have been under a tenth of an inch.

The big rainfall events have occurred earlier in the month: June 11 with .51 inches and June 4 with .63 inches. There has been plenty of fog and one or two thunderstorms, depending on where you live on the Island.

Total rainfall for the month so far is 2.59 inches, which is well within the monthly average.

Total rainfall for the year so far is close to the average: 22.94 inches. The annual average 45.82.

“We haven’t yet had that sudden switch to summer like the past,” said John Varkonda, superintendent of the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. “We may get a small stretch of summer-like weather, but then it always slips back into the cool pattern,” he said. The soil in the state forest is moist.

Weather enthusiasts have often observed that the Vineyard seldom gets a spring. Old Man Winter seems to hang onto the Island and then all of a sudden it is summer.

This year is different. Rather, the Island seems stuck in a cloudy and sometimes wet spring pattern.

The jet stream rules the weather, bringing energy across the coast from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Mr. Strauss said the summer pattern is for the jet stream to be farther north. “Usually it is close to the Canadian border,” he said.

Meanwhile, weather disturbances continue to come our way. The weather service Web site often predicts 20 per cent to 50 per cent chance of rain. Who would dare plan a full-scale picnic with that kind of forecast?