Not only do we love singing in the rain, we love singing about it — and other weather conditions — too, according to a fanciful new study in the journal Weather.

In an exhaustive search through the different eras of popular music, done entirely during their free time, the authors found that the forecast outside has frequently inspired some of the best and most enduring musical hits known to man. Specifically, as much as 7 percent of the songs belonging to Rolling Stone's top 500 list of the Greatest Songs Of All Time (made in 2011) referenced the weather in some way.

“We were all surprised how often weather is communicated in popular music, whether as a simple analogy or a major theme of a song, such as Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' In The Wind' or The Hollies' 'Bus Stop', where a couple fall in love under an umbrella," said lead author Dr. Sally Brown from the University of Southampton in a statement.

The most common weather trends that spoke to songwriters, according to the authors, was sunshine and rain, while blizzards were the least referenced, presumingly due to their unrhythmic pronunciation. Songs frequently referenced more than one kind of weather though, with 1960’s hits like 'Stormy' by J.R. Cobb and Buddy Buie going up to six types at once.

Bob Dylan proved to be the most weather-prolific, slightly ahead of Beatles alums John Lennon and Paul McCarthy. Altogether, the authors found more than 900 songwriters or singers who dabbled in a little metrological music, and thirty bands who flat out named themselves after the weather, like KC and the Sunshine Band.

Perhaps most interestingly, they also found that periods of bad climate influenced the trend of music. "In 1969, George Harrison wrote the Beatles' hit "Here Comes The Sun" after being inspired by one of the first sunny days of spring after a 'long cold lonely winter',” Brown said. “Our study also concluded that references to bad weather in pop songs were statistically more significant in the USA during the more stormy 1950s and 1960s than the quieter periods of 1970s and 1980s." (Something tells me that the next few decades will see an uptick in heat-wave related pop hits.)

Sadly, there’s still no real scientific explanation for why Hanson happened.

For those curious to see the full list of weather-related hits or to even add songs they missed, the authors have made their compilation available to the public.

Source: Brown S, Aplin K.L., Jenkins K, et al. Is there a rhythm of the rain? An analysis of weather in popular music. Weather. 2015