The Last 12 Months: Wettest on Record in U.S.

The past 12 months (May 2018 to April 2019) has been the wettest 1-year period on record in the United States. When you average it all out, 36.2 inches of rain fell in the lower 48. This marks the first time the United States has topped out with more than 3 feet of rain in the 120 years of record keeping. That’s about 6 inches above the long-term average. What’s remarkable is that in January 2018 nearly 40 percent of the country was in some phase of drought. But now only 2 percent of the US is in any phase of drought.