2008 Record Summer Rain

Record RainPhoto: StarbuckGuy's photostream

Last night's storm brought the City closer to a new record high summer rainfall. We're now certain to surge past the 28-year old record of 1980 with rain in the forecast through to the weekend.

The previous record for the months of June and July was 271.5 mm. Surpassing this level, we are well above average rainfall levels for the region (last year over the whole summer we had 88 mm). Interestingly, back in 1980 a good chunk of the rainfall was in the last week of July!

City infrastructure is struggling to handle the heavy volumes of storm water runoff. Storms at a level causing flooding apparently only happens about once every two years, but this year has hit five times. The severe thunderstorm on Tuesday night brought several traffic accidents, knocked out signal lights and caused flooding in the downtown and York areas. Surely there are going to be more reports of flood basements.

Gardeners are probably loving the contrast to last year's dry summer, with the City looking green as ever. Funny, last weekend while visiting my grandma outside of London (Ontario), she was complaining about how dry it has been lately, in a backdrop of browning lawns.

Reader Reviews and Comments

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Zeus is angry!!

Posted by: binlazer at July 23, 2008 11:26 AM

Just before last night's deluge, I saw that big yellow City tanker on Lakeshore, washing the roadway around Sunnyside!

Perhaps they were priming the sewers?

Posted by: Ratpick at July 23, 2008 11:55 AM

Global Warming doesn't just mean hotter temperatures; it also means more extreme weather, such as the storms we've been experiencing, drought just a few kilometers away, more hurricanes, etc. This summer, I fear, is only the beginning of the new kind of weather patterns we will experience.

Posted by: Shelagh at July 23, 2008 12:30 PM

I need to move out of this city. Longest, biggest snowfall of a winter, and record breaking rainfall in the SUMMER.

Are we not allowed a summer?

Posted by: Breanna at July 23, 2008 12:38 PM

Are you forgetting the brutal heat that preceded this rain?

Like Shelagh said, it's the sudden variations (i don't want to call them extreme, i'm sure that will come sooner or later) that are annoying.

Posted by: guy lafleur at July 23, 2008 12:43 PM

Let's not forget the summer after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
The summer following the eruption, we had 19 out of 20 weekends with precipitation. That was the barbecue and gardening and golfing season ruined for all and sundry.

Posted by: David Toronto at July 23, 2008 1:17 PM

I think it rained 23 out of 30 days in june. that a lot.

Posted by: Greg Davis [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 23, 2008 1:51 PM

Am I the only one who's enjoying all this terrific lightning and the frequent downpours?

Posted by: Ratpick at July 23, 2008 2:14 PM
Posted by: binlazer at July 23, 2008 4:34 PM

For the year with record braking snow fall and rain, it really sucks to have a leaky roof. Plz Shoot my roofer.

Posted by: Unlucky Roof man at July 23, 2008 11:38 PM

I play in a Baseball league.

I could have told you that. And I would have been right. 10+ years of playing ball, never had a schedule so messed up.

Posted by: Tito Toronto at July 24, 2008 4:27 AM

It's late July, we went through all the heat, and now all the rain, and the "snow mountain" by six-points junction (Bloor, Kipling, Dundas) in Etobicoke is _still_ around...

Posted by: WriterWriter at July 24, 2008 11:13 AM

"Global warming" is a misnomer, the preferred term is climate change.

Posted by: rek at July 24, 2008 4:29 PM

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