Rainfall Facts

• Exmouth in Western Australia received some 322mm of rain in the first week of June 2002. 305mm of this total falling in just 24 hours on June 4.
• A rainbow was visible for 6 hours (from 9am to 6pm) at Wetherby, Yorkshire (UK) on 14 March 1994. This is rare as most rainbows last for only a few minutes.
• The total amount of precipitation to fall to earth in one year is 5,000 million million tones.
• The amount of water held in the atmosphere at any time is sufficient to produce about 2.5cm (1 inch) of rain over the surface of the earth.
• The most rain to fall in a single 24 hour period is 1,850mm (74 inches) at Cilaos (on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion) between 15 and 16 March 1952.
• The Driest place in Australia is Mulka Bore, west of Lake Eyre (SA), with an average annual rainfall of 100mm (4 inches).
• The driest place on earth is Wadi Halfa in Sudan, with an annual average rainfall of less than 2.5 mm (less than one-tenth of an inch).
• In NSW, the wettest town is Dorrigo with an average of 2,004mm per year.
• On average, the wettest town in Australia is Tully (N QLD) with an annual average rainfall of 4,204mm.
• In Australia, Bellenden Kerr (NE QLD) received 11,251mm in 1979. With a massive 960mm of this total falling in just 24 hours on January 3/4.
• The wettest place in the world (based on the yearly average total) is Mawsynram, India, which receives an average of 11,870mm (474.8 inches) of rain each year.
• Low pressure off the Northern Pacific Coast brought rain and gale force winds to the coast of Washington State. Fair weather prevailed across most of the rest of the nation.
• The famous "Pumpkin Flood" occurred on the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. Harrisburg PA reported a river stage of twenty-two feet. The heavy rains culminated a wet season.
• A west coast hurricane moved onshore south of Los Angeles bringing unprecedented rains along the southern coast of California.
• The most consistently wet place in Australia is Waratah, (TAS) with an average of 314 'rainy days' per year.
• The longest dry spell of record in the U.S. commenced as Bagdad CA went 767 days without rain.
• The summit is 1,569m (5,148ft) above sea level and receives over 350 days of rain each year.
• The wettest place in the world is Mt Wai-'ale-'ale in Hawaii.