Pittsburgh-Area On Pace For One Of Wettest Years On Record

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Nobody in the Pittsburgh-area would be surprised that this year could be among the wettest on record.

Through Aug. 21, Pittsburgh has seen 35.84 inches of rain for the year. That's more than 10 inches ahead (10.2) of the "normal" pace for the city.

At this point, if the city fails to see a drop of rain through Dec. 1 we'd still be slightly ahead of the yearly pace. At this pace, we should expect to surpass the yearly average of 38.19 inches of rain by the middle of September, if not sooner.

Obviously, with us seeing this much rain so quickly in the year you have to wonder if we have a chance to be one of the wettest years on record?

The short answer is yes. We have a solid chance of seeing more than 45 inches of rain this year. That would put us in the top 12 wettest years. So far this year, we have only failed to hit the monthly rain average one time (May).

If we just keep pace with an "average" amount of rain for the rest of the year, we should expect to see somewhere around 11.5 inches of rain. That would mean a yearly total around 47.32 inches.

That would be the most rain since 2004 (57.41 inches of rain for year) for Pittsburgh, the year where Ivan (5.95 inches of rain on Sept. 17) and Frances (3.6 inches of rain on Sept. 8) slammed the area, which caused region-wide flooding and destruction. That is also the wettest year on record for Pittsburgh.

Obviously, a lot can happen before the end of the year. The Climate Prediction Center, who is tasked with looking at the forecast months out, is predicting a near normal rain pattern for us for the rest of the year.