Historic Rainfall Sets Record For 2nd Wettest Day Ever Recorded In Pittsburgh
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rain wraps up Monday afternoon from what can only be described as a historic rain event.
The amount of rain that fell is simply astounding. Parts of Allegheny County saw more than seven inches of rain from Saturday through Monday. Multiple reports of well over six inches of rain are being reported in both Westmoreland and Allegheny County.
As rain *finally* begins to move out from west to east, here's a map of rainfall totals from Saturday through this morning. pic.twitter.com/M8Ae0Aw3sr
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) September 10, 2018
The smooth and mainly steady rain was, for the most part, well behaved. Looking back at the past three days, there were only six hours where Pittsburgh recorded more than a fifth an inch of rain in an hour. This event will be known for just how long it rained and not probably for its intensity.
That's not to say it hasn't caused its share of problems.
The main problem coming from river flooding.
The Ohio River at The Point is forecast to crest Monday night with moderate flooding expected to occur.
The Ohio river at #Pittsburgh has surpassed 25 feet and its flood stage. The crest will be near 26 feet around 8pm
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) September 10, 2018
That's not to say that we didn't set some records due to the rain.
The big one that fell was the daily rain record for Sept. 9. Sunday's rain total hit 3.73" of rain. That number is impressive enough to be the second wettest day ever recorded at the Pittsburgh airport. We also hit the yearly average for rain already. This means every drop of rain recorded at the airport from here on out will get us closer to 45" of rain that will propel this year into the top 10 wettest ever recorded in Pittsburgh.
The good news is, as we head into Monday afternoon, most of the rain will come to an end and we begin to dry out.
Highs will be back into the 80s by Wednesday, and our next decent chance for rain comes on Thursday.
We also may see an impact from Hurricane Florence on Sunday when it comes to possible rain. At this time, data coming in is showing just a small rain event with maybe an inch of rain on Sunday night due to Florence.