Record New Orleans Rainfall

[PTrackerLA]

It's been wet all across south Louisiana for weeks now but SE LA and the New Orleans area has been especially hard hit. Over 21.20" of rain has fallen at the New Orleans airport just since December 1st! This makes this the wettest month ever and they still have lots of more rain to go with this current storm.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
751 AM CST TUE DEC 15 2009

...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...
...RECORD RAINFALL FOR THE NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

SINCE WEATHER RECORDS HAVE BEEN MAINTAINED AT THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN KENNER DATING BACK TO 1947...THE WETTEST
SINGLE MONTH IS NOW DECEMBER 2009. AS OF 750 AM CST...DECEMBER
15TH...THE AIRPORT HAS RECEIVED 21.20 INCHES OF MONTHLY
RAINFALL...WITH MODERATE RAINFALL STILL OCCURRING. THIS EXCEEDS
THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 21.18 INCHES SET IN MAY 1995.

FOR THE ENTIRE NEW ORLEANS METROPOLITAN AREA...DATING BACK TO
1871...THE ALL TIME WETTEST MONTH STILL STANDS AT 25.11 INCHES IN
OCTOBER 1937...DUE LARGELY TO A SLOW MOVING TROPICAL STORM IN
EARLY OCTOBER OF THAT YEAR.

[MGC]

I think the all time record of 25 inches for the NO metro area will be broken this month. Another heavy thunderstorm is headed for the airport this morning and the month is only half over......MGC

[Ptarmigan]

That is really wet for New Orleans and December! Monthly totals for August 2005 is incomplete due to Katrina. I believe New Orleans got 8 to 12 inches from Katrina.

May 1995 New Orleans Flood
http://www.srh.weather.gov/images/lix/b ... 5Flood.pdf

The May 1995 Flood was the worst prior to Katrina.

[Sean in New Orleans]

Yeah....and we are under a flash flood watch, AGAIN, from tomorrow afternoon through Friday AM--possibility of another 4 inches! I'm tired of all this rain.

[boca]

Yeah....and we are under a flash flood watch, AGAIN, from tomorrow afternoon through Friday AM--possibility of another 4 inches! I'm tired of all this rain.

We got 4 to 5 inches today in SE Florida but in our case we need every drop we can get since our summer was relatively dry except for June and July. I think you guys in New Orleans should break the record for wettest December.

[Sean in New Orleans]

Report for yesterday....we got another 2.80." As you can see we started December below normal for the year, yet now, we are almost 16" above normal for the year and we still have 13 days left in the month. ALOT of rain!

WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR
NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
YESTERDAY
MAXIMUM 51 1216 AM 79 1990 64 -13 78
1971
MINIMUM 48 1159 PM 25 1960 45 3 64
AVERAGE 50 55 -5 71

PRECIPITATION (IN)
YESTERDAY 1.77R 1.46 1995 0.16 1.61 0.00
1961
MONTH TO DATE 24.25 2.80 21.45 1.96
DEC 1 24.25 2.80 21.45 1.96
SINCE JAN 1 77.64 61.89 15.75 53.76

SNOWFALL (IN)
YESTERDAY MM
MONTH TO DATE 0.0
SINCE DEC 1 0.0
SINCE JUL 1 0.0
SNOW DEPTH 0