WASHINGTON — After a massive wind and rain storm on Tuesday, some very old rainfall records for the DMV were challenged and fell. Our storm had record amounts of moisture to work with in the atmosphere, which translated to flooding, and even record rainfall.
The largest reported total in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area for the storm system was up in Abingdon, Harford County in Northeastern Maryland with a whopping 4.38" of rain!
Here are some totals from around the DMV:
Most totals ranged from around an inch to over three inches. A full comprehensive list from the Baltimore/Washington National Weather Service can be found here.
The following were the long-standing records that were smashed on Tuesday at all of our local major airports:
Reagan National Airport - DCA (Alexandria, VA)
- 2.24" of rain
- 1.87" of rain was the old record from back in 1879
- The period of record extends back to 1949 at the Airport, but records were taken Downtown DC all the way back to 1872 prior to that
Dulles International Airport - IAD (Sterling, VA)
- 1.76" of rain
- 1.39" of rain was the old record from back in 1964
- The period of record extends back to 1960 at the Airport
BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport - BWI (Linthicum, MD)
- 2.62" of rain
- 1.64" of rain was the old record from back in 1879
- The period of record extends back to 1950 at the Airport, but records were taken in Downtown Baltimore all the way back to 1872 prior to that
Including this latest weather-maker, there are some pretty healthy rain amounts wrapping up last year and beginning 2024! We received 9.69" of rain since December 1, 2023, with 3.26" of that falling in the new year! As we begin 2024, we are a healthy 2.42" above average. That's a far cry from this past fall's drought conditions.