Rainiest Days In The History of Florida
Florida has four of the Top 10 wettest cities in the United States, and the record-setting rainy days to go with them. These four Florida cities, ranked by average annual precipitation, are Tallahassee, Pensacola, Miami and West Palm Beach. It’s the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters that create storms that often soak the state, particularly between June and November.
Pensacola’s average annual rainfall is 65 inches with an average number of 56 rainy days per year. Miami has an average annual rainfall of 62 inches with 57 rainy days per year. West Palm Beach’s average annual rainfall is 63 inches with 58 average rainy days per year. Tallahassee has its wettest month in August. With an average annual rainfall of 61 inches, it has an average of 56 rainy days per year. Its rainiest day in history was May 28, 1973, with 13.8 inches, followed by May 26, 1982 with 11.9 inches. Florida’s precipitation record for 24 hours was Yankeetown in Northwest Florida, which accrued 38.7 inches on September 5, 1950. This is also the highest known storm-total maximum related to any tropical cyclone which impacted Florida.
Furthermore, it was also the second highest 24-hour rainfall total in the history of the United States and was the result of Hurricane Easy. It remained the national highest 24-hour rainfall record until Tropical Storm Claudette in 1979. Florida’s precipitation record for one year was in Pensacola in 1879; an astonishing 127.24 inches. Fort Myers, Florida, has the most thunderstorms in the United States with an average of 89 annually. The wettest month recorded at a Florida climate station was May 1891 when Gainesville received 30.90 inches of rain.
