But it got broken today with a cold front that passed and brought an end to the insane 97-100 degree heat thats been going on over the past few days. I saw three insane thunderstorms totalling a rainfall total of 3.60".
1st thunderstorm was a surprise, it was a cell in NJ nw of the city and then it looped around came to La Guardia and moved SE. It was the most powerful storm I've ever seen around here (except for maybe the 1998 derecho). The lightning was very vivid and there were so many cloud to ground strikes. The thunder was louder than I've ever heard it, and it was so predictable. The most vivid lightning strikes were ALWAYS followed by louder and louder thunder. It was so loud I had to cover my ears (I was outside) and it still almost rattled me and rattled a few things in the house like a pen and an empty paper saltshaker. Just amazing. Torrential rain with this too. The rain was so heavy it looked like there was dense fog outside because of it. Recorded a 10.60" per hour rain rate with this and the entire cell brought 1.06" of rain.
2nd thunderstorm was part of a small line and it was also amazing. Vivid lightning with this although the thunder wasn't too impressive. The rain was heavy though not as bad as before except for a 2-3 minute stretch which brought rain rates to 13.20" per hour!!!!
I got 1.25" total from this thunderstorm. It was also an amazing one.
3rd thunderstorm was part of a squall line and there was some lightning with it although very little thunder. The main thing with this was the torrential downpours. I got 12" per hour rates with this one but the heaviest rates (6-12") stuck around for longer than 2-3 minutes. The whole street and sidewalk flooded within 2-3 minutes though. The whole cell brought me 1.06" of rain. Then several other small showers after that brought me an additional 0.22" of rain. This brings a total of 3.59".
One of the best weather days I've ever experienced around here and the heaviest rainfall in one day since the remenants of Frances/Ivan/Jeanne came through here last September each dumping about 2-5" of rain!