With just a few days left in the month, Boston is within spitting distance of breaking the record for the wettest July in history (or at least since records began in 1872). The National Weather Service announced Sunday that the city is experiencing the second-wettest July on record, with 9.54 inches of rain so far, handily surpassing the 1938 total of 9.46 inches.
“Today’s rain in Boston did nudge us a little bit closer to the all-time record. We still have a little ways to go to get there,” said Torry Gaucher, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. The wettest July on record here occurred in 1921 with 11.69 inches of rain.
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Boston has seen rain 20 out of 25 days this month, reaching a total nearly three times the average. A typical July rainfall, according to Gaucher, is just 3.27 inches.
Worcester set a new record for July rainfall last weekend, when its total reached 12.67 inches, shattering the previous 11.24-inch mark set in 1938.
So will Boston break through? It would require 2.15 more inches of rain between now and Saturday. That’s something of a long shot, though the National Weather Service said there’s a chance of thunderstorms Tuesday and potentially more rain in the middle of the week.
“It doesn’t look to be a slam dunk in terms of beating the all-time record, but it looks like July 2021 isn’t going down without a fight,” Gaucher said.