Believe it or not, we broke a rain record yesterday

SEATTLE (AP) — The National Weather Service announced another Seattle rain record on one of the sunniest days of the year so far. The weather service says the first six months of the water year — from October through March — were the wettest on record.


Total precipitation from Oct. 1 through March 31 was 43.33 inches. This broke the previous record set in the winter of 1950 through 1951 by almost 2 inches.

This winter also may break another winter weather record set in the winter of 1995-96, when 43.82 inches of precipitation fell between Oct. 1 and April 30. Since the government started keeping records in the 1890s, there have only been three Aprils with less than half an inch of rain.

Normal rainfall for the entire year in Seattle is 37.49 inches, so Seattle has already received lots more rain than normal. The record for the wettest water year was 51.82 inches in 1996-97.

One record has not been reached this year: The record for the number of days of measurable precipitation. The record set in 1950-51 was 125 days from October through March and this year there have only been 119 wet days so far.