Sunday’s torrential downpours ended up as one for the record books. According to measurements by the National Weather Service, 5.19 inches of rain fell at Reagan National Airport on Sunday — a figure more than three times the previous record-rainfall for a June 25. The previous record for June 25 was 1.6 inches, back in 1871.
“It blew [the old record’s] doors off,” said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Weather Service in Silver Spring.
Although heavy rains are expected in the summer, Feltgen said, the stalled weather pattern that has kept those heavy rains falling over the region for the past several days is somewhat unusual.
In a “normal” June, about 3.13 inches of rain fall. Sunday night’s rainfall surpassed that by more than two inches.
“We had a month’s worth of rain occur in literally one night,” said Feltgen.
The problem is a cold front stalled just to the west of the area mixing with tropical moisture ahead of the front, according to Feltgen. And forecasters aren’t expecting the front to move along for at least a few days, which could mean more trouble.
“The problem we’ve got right now is the ground is already soaked, and if we get any additional rainfall we will get flooding,” Feltgen said. “We’re going to be at this at least through [Tuesday] night. We could easily have several more inches of rain before we’re out of this.”
Heavy rainfall
» National and Dulles airports had record-breaking rain Sunday.
Total Rainfall (in inches)
Reagan National Airport: 5.19
» The second-highest rainfall for June 25 was 1.6 inches in 1871.
Dulles Airport: 5.94
» The second-highest rainfall for June 25 was 1.66 inches in 1975.
Since the rains began …
» Rainfall accumulated totals from Thursday through Sunday
Reagan National Airport: 6.05
Dulles Airport: 7.45
