US Cities With The Most Rain In History

While the attention of the weather and climate world has been focused on wildfires across the West — specifically the one burning outside Spokane — New York City was hit by as much as three inches of rain, and the parts of the city that have flooded before were once again under water. According to the New York Post, “New York City officials urged those in basement apartments to move to a higher floor and for drivers to be wary of deceptively deep water on roadways.”

New York City has just recorded a 12-day stretch of measurable rain. Some of the US cities with the longest streaks of consecutive rainy days in history aren’t far from Spokane, either — several are in Oregon. Seattle holds the record at 33 consecutive days of rain.

Climate change can bring dangerous weather to one area while affecting a nearby region in an entirely different way. And sometimes a single area can be hit by drought and downpours almost simultaneously. The flood that killed 120 people in Texas last July was worsened by the fact that the ground was so dry it couldn’t absorb what turned out to be inches of water. As NASA reported, “This disaster unfolded in an area already reeling from a prolonged drought that left soils hard baked and unable to absorb water, priming the region for dangerous runoff.” The event that triggered the flash flood was Hurricane Helene, which originated in the western Caribbean.

Longest Consecutive Days with Measurable Rain (≥ 0.01 inch)

Rank	Location	Record Rainfall	Year	Type
1	Puu Kukui, Maui, HI	704.83 in	1982	Mountain station
2	Mount Waialeale, Kauai, HI	683.00 in	1982	Mountain station
3	Hilo, HI	211.22 in	1990	City
4	Pensacola, FL	127.24 in	1879	City
5	New Orleans, LA	102.37 in	1991	City
6	Pensacola, FL	91.91 in	2017	City
7	Miami, FL	89.33 in	1959	City
8	Mobile, AL*	83.78 in	2017	City
9	Houston, TX	83.00 in	1979	City
10	New Orleans, LA	85.73 in	1897	City

Hawaii ranks so high on this list because of northeastern trade winds, which carry a great deal of moisture. When those winds reach Hawaii’s highest mountains, the temperature difference between water and land produces massive amounts of rain.

Notably, every other city on the list sits along the South Atlantic coast of Florida or the Gulf of Mexico — regions known for both the frequency and ferocity of their hurricanes. In the case of Hurricane Katrina and the rain it brought to New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service, “Storm total rainfall amounts generally ranged from 7 to 14 inches with lower amounts observed farther west toward the Atchafalaya River” (a river located in southern Louisiana).

Data for this story came primarily from NOAA’s Global Historical Climatology Network, The Weather Channel, CurrentResults.com, the Western Regional Climate Center, and ExtremeWeatherWatch.com.