Rain poured down for only the second time in a month, saturating the normally dusty streets of Amman and creating streams of muddy water throughout this hilly city. The last time it rained here was just over two weeks ago when King Hussein came home from the United States.
Then he was allegedly fully cured of the non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer that had appeared a year earlier, following treatment at the expensive Mayo Clinic in the US.
This time he was gravely ill. Then, tens of thousands of people thronged the streets. This time the empty streets and full mosques told their own sad story. The ruler of Jordan for more than 47 years was dying, and his devoted people were praying for the future. Outside the Al-Hussein medical centre where the king has been staying since his return, hundreds of Jordanians waited to mourn their monarch. Women wept openly and called on God to have mercy on the king.
"He has lived a good life. God will be merciful to him," one woman told waiting journalists.
As the longest-serving ruler in the region, less than 20 per cent of Jordanians were born before his rule began in 1952.
He is inextricably linked in the minds of his people with the very formation and early development of the state. "He is our king and our president. He is more than that for us. He is our father," the woman said.
Emotion was running high outside the clinic which has become a rallying point for those wishing to express their support for the monarchy.
Jordanians have been bewildered by the pace of events in the last two weeks. In the middle of January they thought the king was recovered from his illness.
Doctors and royal courtiers pronounced him free of the cancer that had appeared a year before and he returned in triumph, driving through the streets of Amman in appalling weather. The myth of his health was maintained by government and palace.
The truth was that the king was close to death and only came home to sort out an important family matter. The succession had clearly been on the king's mind as he endured six intensive sessions of chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic.
With little to do but sit back and hope the medicine would work, the king reflected on his succession. His brother, Crown Prince Hassan, was the anointed heir, having been given the job in 1965.
King Hussein had originally wanted his infant son to succeed him, but regional wars and attempted assassinations had made the government nervous, and the king wanted a capable adult waiting in the wings.
Prince Hassan waited for 33 years only to be subverted at the last moment. Months of reflection culminated in a palace coup as King Hussein reinstated his young son, Prince Abdullah, as his rightful heir. The move has been popular. The prince is well regarded in the army and among the country's majority Palestinian population.
Outside the King Abdullah mosque in central Amman, worshippers attending Friday prayers said they hoped for a smooth transition from King Hussein to his son.
"He is a nice young man and I think he will become a great leader. But he can never replace King Hussein," said Mr Abu Ahmed, a restaurant worker from the Jabal Webdeh district nearby.
"I think he will lead the Jordanians well with the help of God," said Mr Sadoun, a builder attending the prayer session.
Jordanians are full of trepidation about the future although reluctant to admit as much to foreigners.
A clearly irritated information minister, Mr Nasser Judah, pleaded with the media to allow the government to control the release of information on the condition of the king.
"Please, we need to look after our own affairs. Foreigners will have to wait in turn," he said.
But King Hussein's legacy will be only partly domestic. As an international figure, he eclipsed every other leader in the region. Jordanians will have to share the legacy of their much-loved king with the region and the world.
It is a daunting and unenviable position for the young Crown Prince Abdullah, but one he cannot escape. Jordanians have high expectations of him.