The fresh smell of rain, gloomy cool days and lots of umbrellas will be familiar smells and sights for the rest of the week at NIU.

Meteorologist Dan Koch said Friday will be cloudy with a chance of showers with a high near 68 and a low around 45. Expect a dry weekend with warming temperatures in the high 70s, but there is a chance of showers on Monday, he said.

Koch said that the NIU area is caught in an upper air pattern that’s bringing down cooler air masses from Canada.

The cooler weather can be attributed to the volcanic eruption that happened in the Philippines, he said. Koch said some of the ash from the eruption went up into the stratosphere and is blocking some of the sunlight.

“Any amount of blockage would have an effect on the weather,” he said.

Koch also said to expect a cool fall with normal or above normal precipitation and a cold winter.

The weather affected umbrella sales at local stores and some students’ attitudes.

Mary Ann Best, head cashier and gift buyer for the Hallmark department at the Village Commons Bookstore said that umbrella sales did very well all day. Best attributed the increased sales to the constant rain.

“Today the rain was consistent, unlike the other rainy days,” Best said.

Margot Palmere, supervisor of school supplies at the University Bookstore, said umbrella sales did well there, too.

Palmere ordered 60 umbrellas last week and all of them are gone. She said she ordered 120 Wednesday and hopes they come in soon.

The rainy weather has also affected people’s moods. For Laura Schwind, a senior elementary education major, the gloomy weather has a negative effect.

“I feel unmotivated, lazy and I tend to procrastinate,” Schwind said.

Michael Donaldson, a junior industrial technology major, said the rain makes him happy. “I went to all of my classes today. I’m probably one of the few people that likes the rain. I guess that’s because during the summer I would always get days off work when it rained, and I love days off,” Donaldson said. “I associate the rain with something positive.”