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Record Rainfall Associated with Hurricane Otto

The tail of moisture that fed into what became Hurricane Otto at 11 AM AST on October 8th, 2010, brought significant rainfall across much of Puerto Rico (including Culebra and Vieques) as well as all of the U.S. Virgin Islands, beginning on the 4th of October. Several rainfall records were broken across the U.S. Virgin Islands with the tail of this system, with the 6.61 inches of rainfall that accumulated on October 5th at the Cyril E. King Airport on Saint Thomas representing the 5th wettest day on the island since record keeping began. Tables summarizing some of the notable records and rainfall totals with this event can be found below.

New 24-Hour Rainfall Records

5-Day rainfall totals across the USVI associated with Hurricane Otto

5-Day rainfall totals across Puerto Rico associated with Hurricane Otto

With the significant rainfall that fell with the passing of Hurricane Otto, 2010 continues to be one of the wettest years on record across the local islands. As of October 14th, San Juan had received a total of 70.86 inches of rainfall, over 9 inches above the 61.85 inches that fell by October 14th, 2005, the second wettest year to date. On the island of Saint Thomas, a total of 53.52 inches of rainfall had accumulated at the Cyril E. King Airport in Charlotte Amalie through October 14th, exactly 4 inches ahead of the 49.52 inches of rainfall that had accumulated by October 14, 1960, the second wettest year to date. While the winter months were significantly drier across Saint Croix than across the northern U.S. Virgin Islands and San Juan, 2010 still ranks as the 6th wettest year to date at the Christiansted Airport on Saint Croix, with 38.73 inches of rainfall through the 14th of October. A plot of 2010 versus the normal rainfall and the wettest years on record for San Juan and Saint Thomas can be found below.

Plots showing accumulative precipitation at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport in San Juan and the Cyril E. King Airport on Saint Thomas in comparison to their normal precipitation through October 14th as well as their wettest years on record.

Click here to visit the Unique Local Climate Data page for the NWS San Juan, PR