BALTIMORE BREAKS ITS ANNUAL PRECIPITATION RECORD

BALTIMORE BREAKS ITS ANNUAL PRECIPITATION RECORD

Comments 2 comments

November 15, 2018 was the day that Baltimore set its long-term record for greatest total precipitation in a calendar year. With 1.33″ of liquid precipitation being recorded by midnight, the 2018 total has now reached 63.01″, breaking the previous record of 62.66″ set in 2003. This data includes the official downtown locations from Jan. 1871 to July 1950, then Baltimore-Washington (nee Friendship) International Airport thereafter. With 6 weeks to go, any new precipitation will be gravy (not literally, and probably not even on Thanksgiving).  Another record that Baltimore set yesterday was the daily snowfall amount of 1.7″, superseding the previous record of 1.2″ from way back in 1908.

As so many areas of Maryland have also been receiving large amounts of precipitation this year, the all-time state record of 76.52″ at Towson in 1971 is on the verge of being, or has been, eclipsed, depending on how the powers that be (the State Climate Extremes Committee) determine the official tallies. Below are two listings of year-to-date precipitation totals, one of the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Network stations, the other from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), the latter where one of the stations has already exceeded the Maryland State record:

 

UPDATED DATA ON 12/10/2018 – Note that some of the narrative above may have been superseded by data in the tables below.

Current-Maryland-Precipitation-Totals-2018_as-of-2018-12-10  

Please click the above link to access a .pdf version of the data.

 

ADDITIONAL DATA: WASHINGTON, DC

Updated 12/4/2018

Washington, DC has not yet broken its all-time calendar-year record but does currently rank in 3rd place all-time, dating back to 1871. Being that they are only 0.88″ away from tying the all-time record from 1889, they stand a good chance of breaking that record.  This official data for Washington, DC includes downtown locations (1/1871-7/1941), then Reagan National Airport (8/1941-Present).

 

 Washington-DC-Top-Ten-Annual-PRECIPITATION-Extremes_Updated-2018-12-04

Please click the above link for a .pdf version of the data.

 

 

 

Cover photo courtesy of the “Daily Read List.”

2 thoughts on “BALTIMORE BREAKS ITS ANNUAL PRECIPITATION RECORD”

  1. Great job Jeff. I am way down the list at West Rockville at 56.81″ at the moment. Do you know if there is any relationship between the Towson station that set the previous state record from July 1 1971 through June 30 1972 and the current Towson station (in CoCoRaHS I believe)? How far away are the two if they aren’t the same? Fascinating numbers in the Free State!!! Thanks, Kevin

    1. Hey Kevin,

      After some investigating, I found that the Towson station during the record-year of 1971 was located at 1400 Taylor Ave., which is actually in Parkville (maybe they kept “Towson” for consistency with a previous station?). Anyway, the COOP form during that time shows “Bendix-Friez” as the observer (maker of barometers and other things). There is now a Lowe’s hardware store on that site.

      The CoCoRaHS station “Towson 0.8 SW/MD-BL-16”, located on the NW side of Towson State University, is located about 3 miles NW of the 1971 station.

Leave a Reply