![]() Press, 1955) that "some persons caught in the open during the storm were actually alarmed for fear they would suffocate, the rain was falling so fast that they had to shield their noses so they could breathe". Hoyt relates in his classic book Floods (Princeton Univ. At Cambridge, Ohio a reputed 7.00" of rain fell in just 30 minutes on July 16, 1914. Tyler, Texas reported 2.00” in 10 minutes on April 29, 1905. Patterson, New Jersey measured 1.64” in 8 minutes on July 13, 1880. Fort McPherson, Nebraska reported 1.50” in 5 minutes on as did Pensacola, Florida on May 2, 1937. rainfall for a 5 minute period was the 2.03” reported at Alamogordo Creek, New Mexico on J(3.09” fell in 15 minutes). Other significant one-minute rainfalls include 0.69” at Jefferson, Iowa on Jand 0.65” at Opid’s Camp, California on April 5, 1926. A much-quoted 1.50” at Barot, Guadeloupe on Novemcannot be verified (in fact, there appears to be no such location on the Caribbean island). ![]() record for one minute but also the world record for such. The Unionville figure is generally considered not only the U.S. Roof gutters were overwhelmed, with water reported flowing off roofs “like Niagara Falls”. Extreme flash flooding and erosion were reported in the surrounding area and the sky became so dark that residents were forced to turn lights on in spite of being mid-afternoon. Anecdotal information also played a part in the record’s certification. The gauge passed all the tests to which it was subjected. 304.Ī number of experiments were made on the gauge to determine its calibration and accuracy. From ‘Monthly Weather Review’, August 1959 p. Here is a copy of the trace:Īlthough invisible in this reproduction, there is apparently a faint line on the original trace which is when the excessive rainfall occurred. The minute that ostensibly measured the 1.23” total occurred around 3:22-3:23 p.m. with 2.84” of this falling in a 50-minute period between 2:50-3:40 p.m. It had good exposure and measured a storm total of 3.60” between 2:50 p.m and 11:30 p.m. ![]() A recording rain gauge: A Friez Universal Type with a 12-inch capacity, dual traverse pen, and 24-hour clock gear on a chart drum was used to make the measurement. ![]() Weather Bureau conducted several exhaustive studies of the Unionville, Maryland claim to 1.23” in one minute on Jand determined it to be accurate (see for the Monthly Weather Review summary). It is hard to imagine how an accurate measurement of precipitation over a 60-second period can be made. Table reproduced from my book 'Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book'. records for short-term rainfalls?īelow is a table of the most intense rainfalls on record over various periods of time: How do these stack up compared to the all-time U.S. NOTE: The 5.64" 24-hour rainfall on May 31st in Oklahoma City brought the May total to 14.52", a monthly record and just short of the all-time wettest month (any month) on record of 14.66" set in June 1989. Some of these included very intense short-term precipitation totals such as the 2.00” in 35 minutes in Oklahoma City on May 31st and 0.69” in 3 minutes (5:26 p.m.-5:29 p.m.) at Houston’s Hobby Airport on April 27th and 0.71" in 13 minutes at Paducah, Kentucky the morning of Saturday, June 1st (4:53 am.-5:06 am.). This spring has seen some phenomenal heavy rain events (as outlined in my previous blog). Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City picked up 3.10" in 1 hour and 2.00" in 35 minutes during the tornado and flood event on May 31st. What is the Most Rain to Ever Fall in One Minute or One Hour?Īs a follow up to my last blog I thought I would write up a short summary of the most intense short-term rainfalls on record in the United States.
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