Here in the South Central PA region — York, PA — we could use 2 weeks of steady, slow rainfall. It’s dry and the Flora & Fauna are PO’d without more water.
Remember hurricane Agnes ? Careful what you ask for
I’m in York too and was talking with a co-worker just this afternoon. She’s sick of trying to water her flowers and other plants and without rain, is about to just let them dry up and die, and as she’s just outside of the public water system and relies on well water, she fears it going dry and is really hoping for rain.
But as you said, slow and steady is the key. A deluge of heavy rain over just a day or two is just going to run off the dry hard ground without soaking in.
The irony is, as I’m sure you remember, was that the spring here was so wet. I remember thinking that the rain would never end.