As we have already seen this spring, Mother Nature delays construction. The issue, though, is whether weather delays are severe enough for contractors to legitimately and successfully seek a contractual time extension. Several events can secure extensions for weather-related delays—which typically are not compensable, but they can grant relief from liquidated damages.
However, not just any bad weather justifies a contractual time extension. Rather, the delay must be caused by exceptionally inclement weather—historically bad weather comparable to record events maintained by the National Weather Service. So, your first step: visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (www.weather.gov) and examine records to determine whether the weather conditions your project has been experiencing are, indeed, exceptionally inclement for the location and time of year. Next, you also must consider what could have been reasonably foreseen. Complaining about rain delays during the annual monsoon season won’t work.