Mega-monster Midwest Storm Leaves More Weather Records in Its Wake...

The mega-monster storm is almost history. But, even in its dying throes, the storm has deposited even more weather records. Many of the daily events are still linked to snowfall. But to the south and east of the storm, it is the record monthly and annual rainfall totals that are making news (Fig. 1).

With the better part of a week still to go, and another southern storm (thanks to El Nino) in the making, count on many more records before 2009 comes to a close.

Here are some of the records set on December 26, 2009. See this link for information about "equivalent liquid precipitation."

Note that for many locations, records only exist for the past 75 to 125 years. Thus, these are NOT all-time "global warming" records, just ones in an historical weather context.

Arkansas

...Little Rock (Adams Field) reported a record low sea level pressure (29.27 inches of mercury) for the month of December. The old record was 29.33 inches of mercury set in 1968.

Georgia

...1.75 inches of rain fell at Augusta, breaking the previous record of 1.31 inches set in 1945.

Illinois

...Peoria reported 5.4 inches of snow; this broke the old record of 2.0 inches set in 1920.

...Chicago (O'Hare Airport) reported 5.3 inches of snow; this broke the old record of 3.9 inches set in 1950.

Michigan

...Liquid equivalent precipitation (nearly all from rain) fell at Muskegon. The 0.62 inches measured matched the amount that was recorded in 1985.

New Jersey

...2.44 inches of rain fell at Atlantic City breaking the previous record of 1.70 inches set in 1969.

...1.4 inches of rain fell at Trenton breaking the previous record of 1.36 inches set in 1975.

New York

...0.79 inches of rain fell at Islip (Long Island) breaking the previous record of 0.23 inches set in 2006.

North Carolina

...1.62 inches of rain fell at Cape Hatteras, breaking the previous record of 1.16 inches set in 1976.

South Carolina

...3.06 inches of rain fell at Columbia, breaking the previous record of 1.64 inches set in 1945.

South Dakota

...Huron, SD measured 5.6 inches of snow, topping the 5.0 inches that fell in 1988.

...Rapid City received 2.5 inches of snow (breaking the old record of 1.9 inches in 1967). On the liquid equivalent side, this translated into 0.13 inches (breaking the old record of 0.12 inches set in 1943).

...Sioux Falls, SD didn't set records, but set lots of near records. It's important to highlight these because they still signify rare events. For example, snowfall during the mega-monster storm totaled 18.6 inches, making it the 5th snowiest storm on record. The 32.2 inches that fell between February 16-18, 1962 remains as number one.

Equally impressive is the fact that 12.1 inches of snow fell during a 24-hour period from Christmas Eve into Christmas Day and this tied for the 12th snowiest 24-hour period, matching what occurred on November 26, 2001.

And a Christmas Day record snowfall of 10.5 inches also occurred, breaking the previous record of 10.0 inches set in 1945.

Finally, December 2009 is now the second snowiest December and the 6th snowiest month on record in Sioux Falls. Snowfall currently totals 27.1 inches. The record monthly total of 41.1 inches was set in 1968. For comparison, the all-time snowiest month occurred in the February 1962 (a month with only 28 days).

Monthly rainfall records are being broken, as well. New Orleans, LA, for example, has received 25.43 inches so far this month. This exceeded the record monthly rainfall of 25.11 inches set in October 1937.

In South Carolina, both Columbia and Augusta have surpassed their December record rainfall totals. Columbia has received more than 9 inches this month (previous record 8.54 inches in 1981) and Augusta has logged 8.69 inches (previous record 8.40 inches in 1981).

In addition, annual rainfall records are starting to tumble, in part due to the heavy rain on the eastern side of this storm system.

For example, annual rainfall at Little Rock, AR (81.57 inches) has now topped its previous record of 75.54 inches (established in 1882).

Columbus, GA had already broken its annual rainfall earlier in the month, but added to its totals as part of this storm. Currently, Columbus has logged 80.01 inches this year. The previous record was 73.22 inches set back in 1964. Columbus has received 13.43 inches more rainfall than average.

According to records compiled at the National Weather Service (NWS), Atlanta precipitation (69.12 inches) is currently the second wettest year on record (71.18 inches fell in 1948). Macon, GA's 61.34 inches of rainfall so far in 2009 makes it the fourth wettest year on record. The greatest annual rainfall occurred in 1929 (67.80 inches).

Perhaps the most notable record report was from a veteran cooperative observer in Pinson, AL. The cumulative rainfall for calendar year 2009 to date of 75.83 inches broke the previous maximum for the entire year of 74.87 inches (1961). The report, from Mr. James B. Price, spans almost 60 years of weather record keeping.