Last night, meteorologists were tracking a wall of water that was slowly moving up the New Jersey coastline, producing flash flooding and strong thunderstorms, with 6-10 inches of rain falling in South Jersey, such as in Millville, NJ, in Cumberland County. This rain also brought several inches of rain to the Baltimore area, as well as the Detroit area the other day, leaving flash flooding in and around both cities.
Meteorologists and forecasters saw the rain coming right for the New York City Metro area, with a general 1-3 inches expected, locally more in some places, and Flash Flood Watches were issued Monday, well in advance of the storm system. Well, a low pressure system developed along a front, and was able to produce biblical amounts of rain over a small area, and this small area happened to be Islip, NY, which is in Suffolk County on Long Island. This band of rain dumped a whopping 13.26 inches of rain at MacArthur Airport, which is in Islip. Many cried out that the insane obvious flooding that resulted from the foot+ rainfall was not predicted by meteorologists accurately, and well the reality is that meteorologists and computer forecast models saw and knew the rain was coming, and they new flash flooding a big concern, but it was impossible to predict the flooding to that extent. It caught not just the public off-guard, but also the meteorologists. Also, there was such a big cut-off in rainfall amounts, with Central Park not evening receiving one inch of rain. Just crazy.
The only good thing about flash flooding is that it recedes quickly once the rain has come to and end, but by the time that happens, the damage is already done. This rainfall of 13.26 inches in Islip is a record for the most rainfall in a 24-hour period in ALL of New York State, which smashes the previous record of 11.6 inches, which was set in Tannersville, NY during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. I truly hope all are safe tonight, and nothing/no one was lost. Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected the floods.
At least now we can enjoy some gorgeous August weather, with sunshine and highs near 80 expected for the next few days!
