Weather News

New American rainfall record

Ben Domensino, Thursday February 14, 2019 - 15:00 AEDT

A weather station in Hawaii has officially broken America's 24-hour rainfall record.

The U.S. National Weather Service's National Climate Extremes Committee confirmed the new record this week after reviewing data collected during a heavy rain event last year.

A weather station at Waipa Garden, on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, registered 49.61 inches of rain in 24 hours during April last year. On the Australian scale, this is 1,262mm of rain.

Image: Kauai in Hawaii

To put this into perspective, Sydney usually receives 1,216mm of rain during an entire year. Mackay, which is at a similar equivalent latitude to Hawaii, averages 1,545mm per year.

The world record for 24 hour rainfall was 1,825mm at Foc Foc, La Reunion in 1966. Australia's highest 24 hour rain on record was 907mm at Crohamhurst in Queensland, during 1893.

- Weatherzone

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