Toronto officially marks its wettest year ever thanks to the summer downpours
Toronto Pearson has officially reached the wettest year on record. Although there were actually more dry days than wet, when it rained this summer, it certainly poured
Toronto Airport just broke an all-time precipitation record, and it's not a daily, or even monthly record...it's a yearly record!
As of November 11, 2024, the weather station at Pearson recorded 1054.4 mm of rain since January 1, officially setting a new historical record for the city. The old record dates back to 2008 when 1049 mm fell that year.
A big part of this year's record achievement was the torrential downpours during the summer months. Toronto saw its wettest summer on record, with a whopping 511.3 mm reported. That's almost half of the yearly rainfall amount just in the summer months alone.
About 20 percent of that rain fell in July, with 215.4 mm received that month.
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Although August was not as wet, with 'only' 181.8 mm of rainfall, it was still enough to make it the wettest August on record, as well.
Two summer days in particular won't soon be forgotten, with severe downpours causing significant flooding in and around the city. July 16 brought 97.8 mm of rain, while August 17 saw 128.3 mm fall in just one day. That near 130 mm of rain made it the wettest day on record for Toronto Airport, narrowly beating July 8, 2013, which saw 126.0 mm.
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On August 17, multiple accounts on social media reported cars stranded in low-lying areas in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Little Etobicoke Creek rose 3.1 metres in under two hours, triggering flooding along its banks.
The wet pattern of the summer was attributed to copious amounts of moisture being drawn from the Gulf of Mexico into the region, causing heavy rain, especially in training thunderstorms.
Remnants from tropical storms also helped to give a moisture boost.
What makes all of this even more interesting is the fact that when it rained, it certainly poured, but overall, we actually had more dry days than normal this year.