rain, rain go away...

[Laura Duchesne]

Has it been really wet where you live? Here in Waterloo, Ontario we have never received so much rain this summer. In July alone, we received 181mm of rain (our average is about 93mm) according to the University of Waterloo weather station. We have seen frequent storms this season, and with it, brought torrential downpours. The storms we had in July caused flooding in parts of the area.

As I am typing this, it is pouring once again thanks to a cold low that is going to hang over the region for several days.

I guess with our very snowy winter (we broke records for snowfall at 251.4 cm), it was a clue that our warmer months were going to be very wet.

 

[John Farley]

About 15 and a half inches above normal in St. Louis so far this year. We also had more snow than usual last winter, but I am not sure that a correlation between winter snowfall and spring/summer rainfall would stand up if you look at data over the long run. We are actually looking at a prolonged spell of dry weather right now, and below normal temperatures, so it's really nice around here right now.

 

[Stephen Levine]

OK, folks, please send me, gift wrapped with spectacular thunderheads and a splendid light show, some of your rain.
My yard has seen about 2/10 inches of rain this past month, we have had 20 some days over 100 degrees F and the heat and drought continues. Fortunately I enjoyed a great light show chase on July 13th, but otherwise it's been quite rare around here.

 

[Paul Austin]

You can send some this way, too. A lot of folks I talk to around here are hoping for a slow-moving tropical storm to pass over this part of the state. It's certainly not the dryest I've seen it here, but the lakes seemed to be slowly recovering before last month. The winter is usually our dry season, so hopefully we get some above-average rainfall beforehand.

 

[Angie Norris]

We had been rainless here since 7-13 and combined with the heat wave we were getting pretty dry. But, in typical Oklahoma style, the official rainfall total for OKC is currently 4.39 inches since about 2am. The Norman Bubble was breached about 4:30 with 5.23 inches so far. And it's still coming down . Gotta love NW flow events

 

[Randy Denzer]

Extreme Drought here in Central Texas!! Send it this way PLEASE!!

 

[Joel Wright]

It's been above average here as well. Nothing flooding anymore, but the rains seem to come quite regularly. This is the 2nd summer in a row where you have to mow the grass at least once a week. Usually there's a period in the middle of the summer when it really dries out and grass burns up pretty good. The severe drought we had around here back in '05 is now a very distant memory.

 

[Dan Nichols]

Rain, rain go away? I'd rather my snail mail go away instead.

Had possibly the wettest summer in this season, but lots of lightning. Though I like lightning the best, I do enjoy a great pour even without it. Seen a few great events this past summer, but also some painful "misses" partly due to misguided chases. The only "misses" I enjoy are those in skirts......

 

[Paul Austin]

Be careful what you wish for!

You can send some this way, too. A lot of folks I talk to around here are hoping for a slow-moving tropical storm to pass over this part of the state. It's certainly not the dryest I've seen it here, but the lakes seemed to be slowly recovering before last month. The winter is usually our dry season, so hopefully we get some above-average rainfall beforehand.

They certainly got their wish, and then some. Large areas of the central and northern portions of the state got 15+ inches of rain over anywhere from 12 to 60 hrs with Fay, depending on the where you live. Parts of east central FL received over 33 inches. Amazingly, we got only about 3.4 inches in some areas of Alachua County. We spent a good deal of time in the rain-free "eye" and in dryer pockets rotating around the storm.

 

[Paul Townsend]

It was quite wet and snowy here this past Winter. Ended up with about 79 inches for the snow season. Except for March and May, which were well below normal, the Spring and Summer months were well above average. Both June and July had about 5 and two-thirds inches.

The wet pattern continued into the first 4 days of August when just over 2 inches fell. But then the spigot was turned off. Starting on the 5th of August and continuing through the 3rd of September only 0.05" was measured. That was an unprecedented value for a 30 day period in my records. The drought ended with the remains of Gustav, but not before parts of Wisconsin saw D0 and even some D1 drought indicies come back with a vengence.

I'd be interested to hear from some of you about experiences with extended dry conditions. Five hundredths in a 30 day period would be quite unusual even for places near and west of the Green Line, let alone eastern Wisconsin where intense upper level highs don't ever park out for weeks at a time.

 

[Angie K Holliday]

We're about 10 inches above normal here, with another several inches falling this weekend when the remnants of Ike bring loads of moisture up here. We're expecting 3-6 inches, with locally higher amounts... so yeah, it's been wet here, and so has my basement I love rain though, even though it's been making a mess!

 

[Joel Wright]

It's been really wet here the last few weeks. Got 3-4" from Gustav. Ike will graze us Sunday, but before then we may get 2-5" tonight through tomorrow night.

 

[Joel Wright]

Over 6" of rain since yesterday. Still raining and now Ike is heading this way. Not good.

 

[Ian Contreras]

NWS Chicago reported a new record out at O'Hare airport for a one-day rain total...6.61 inches as of 7PM this afternoon....

I-94 was closed at Pratt Ave just north of Chicago due to a pretty good amount of water covering the Interstate...and the Albany Park neighborhood in Chicago was covered in a good foot or so of water when I strolled through at about 3PM today....

I've been living in Chicago my whole life and I've never seen the Chicago River swell like this...anyone have any good flood records for the river?

 

[Robert Dewey]

I've been looking at some local flood data myself. This event looks pretty significant. We've picked up around 3 inches so far here, and it's still coming down. I don't think the rivers have picked up all of the run-off yet, and some are already nearing flood stage.

The Clinton River in Clinton Twp is already 25% ABOVE the forecast level. I suspect that river might very well end up reaching major to near record stage.

Meanwhile, the data Grand River in Jackson, MI suggests extreme flooding. The record is 15.4 feet back in 1968... and the forecast is calling for 17.3 feet.

Other rivers around the area look pretty safe, which seems odd given what I said above. In fact, some are currently still 50% below flood stage.