Sunday, April 15, 2012

Deluge Douses Des Moines: Earliest 3" Rainfall by 2 Weeks

Image (click to enlarge): Iowa 24-hour precipitation ending 7 am CDT, April 15, 2012, from National Weather Service.

April 15, AM Update: An additional 0.17" of rainfall in the 2 hours before midnight local time brings the daily record total to 3.43". The National Weather Service reports that Des Moines climate records date back to 1878.

Original post:
The 3.26" of rainfall at Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday not only smashes the record for April 14 of 2" in 1987, but it is only the second time that a daily rainfall has exceeded 3" in the first 4 months of the year at Des Moines. The 2.35" which fell in the hour ending at 6 pm CDT was enough by itself to break the old daily record. The all-time record daily rainfall for April occurred on a date 2 weeks later, 3.80" on April 28 in 1974.

Des Moines climate records began in 1896.

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