How wet was last month? 6th-wettest July in 80 years
July was full of rainy days, and the month ranked high historically for the D.C. area.
This was the sixth-wettest July on record at Reagan National Airport.
Three of the six wettest Julys in D.C. since 1941, when weather records started being kept at what is now Reagan National Airport, have happened in the last six years, according to Storm Team4 meteorologist Chuck Bell.
Three of the six wettest Julys in DC (since we moved weather records to Reagan National in 1941) have happened in the last 6 years. DC has an additional 0.48″ of rain yesterday to push the monthly total to more than 7 1/2 inches so the grass and gardens are-a-growin’. pic.twitter.com/z3VQZkRtam
— Chuck Bell (@ChuckBell4) August 1, 2022
If it seems as if there has been a lot of rainfall in July in recent years, you are not imagining things. Data from the National Weather Service shows that July in 2019 and 2020 each saw roughly 6.5 inches of rain.
| Rainfall totals in inches for July in DC | |
|---|---|
| 11.06 | 1945 |
| 9.73 | 2018 |
| 9.44 | 1969 |
| 9.15 | 2017 |
| 8.12 | 1970 |
| 7.61 | 2022 |
| 7.16 | 1975 |
| 7.15 | 1958 |
| 6.98 | 2004 |
| 6.51 | 2020 |
| 6.49 | 2019 |
| 6.06 | 2005 |
| 5.88 | 1956 |
| 5.76 | 2003 |
| 5.69 | 1981 |
It also made a mark in the official weather records for the area.
“That was good enough for the 13th-rainiest July on record with weather records going back to 1870. It was indeed a very soggy month,” said Bell said.
August begins with a warming trend before the high rain chances return by week’s end, Bell said.