{"id":28143,"date":"2022-01-02T20:55:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T20:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=28143"},"modified":"2022-01-09T12:47:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T12:47:32","slug":"whats-the-record-for-how-long-its-ever-rained-without-stopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/whats-the-record-for-how-long-its-ever-rained-without-stopping\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the record for how long it\u2019s ever rained without\u00a0stopping?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lynn McMurdie<\/a>, University of Washington<\/a><\/em> and Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik<\/a>, Washington State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What is the longest time it has ever rained for? \u2013 Wayne<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The answer is \u2013 it depends. If you live in a dry place, like the Atacama Desert in South America, and it rains for an hour, that may be the precipitation record for that location. If you live in a wet place, like the Amazon rain forest, raining for 40 days in a row wouldn\u2019t be a big deal. <\/p>\n

As scientists who<\/a> study the weather<\/a>, we love rain data \u2013 and use it to learn how storm systems work. We\u2019ve also learned what conditions produce rain records.<\/p>\n

What happens inside clouds<\/h2>\n

Rain forms when moist air is lifted into the sky where it cools. As moist air chills, the water vapor molecules press together to form tiny microscopic droplets. Together they look like clouds<\/a>. Air motion inside clouds can sometimes cause the droplets to bang into each other and become larger droplets. In the upper parts of clouds, the temperature is cold enough to make ice crystals, which eventually get heavy enough to fall \u2013 and melt into rain on their way to the ground. <\/p>\n

Rain can come from many different types of storms. Thunderstorms, for example, have a short life span and can produce intense downpours. Other storms, such as winter storms, can linger for several days and produce gentle rain, steady rain or, if it\u2019s cold enough, snow. <\/p>\n

In most places, weather alternates between dry and wet periods. That\u2019s because each period of stormy weather is followed by a period of dry air with plentiful sunshine and few clouds.<\/p>\n

\n\"A<\/a>
\nA new record for the amount of rain in a three-day period was set in Hilo, Hawaii – 31.85 inches fell in August 2018.<\/span>
\nMario Tama via Getty Images News<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An exception to this rule is where mountains are near oceans. In that case, as moist ocean air blows toward the land, it encounters the mountains and is forced to lift over them. Clouds can form there almost continuously, bringing rainfall that can last for weeks or longer. <\/p>\n

Days and days of rain<\/h2>\n

Rainfall records exist only in places where people live and keep records. Many towns and cities don\u2019t bother collecting rainfall data. And records don\u2019t exist for the many uninhabited locations on Earth, like over the ocean or deep in rain forests. So rainfall data is incomplete. <\/p>\n

In modern record keeping, rainfall is measured by the amount in a given time period, usually hourly or daily. A few drops of rain is called a \u201ctrace\u201d of rain. Rainfall is \u201cmeasurable\u201d if it adds up to 0.01 inch (0.25 millimeters) or more. <\/p>\n

In the U.S., the longest periods of daily rain have occurred in Hawaii, where easterly trade winds blow toward the mountains. An incredible 331 consecutive days of measurable rainfall<\/a> were recorded at Manuawili Ranch, Maui, in 1939-40. If you include a trace of rain, the record is 881 consecutive days, or nearly three straight years<\/a>, at Honomu Maki, Oahu, from 1913 to 1916. This dependable and continuous rainfall is the reason that region is a tropical rainforest.<\/p>\n

\n\"An<\/a>
\nA western cedar in the Olympic National Park rainforest in Port Angeles, Washington.<\/span>
\nBill Baccus<\/span>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the continental U.S., the longest daily rainfalls have occurred in winter near the coastal mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest. In 1997-98, Otis, Oregon, received 79 straight days<\/a> of measurable rainfall. The Pacific Northwest has temperate rainforests, where the continuously wet cold season nurtures huge trees, even though it is often relatively dry in the summer.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of other rainy places in the world<\/a> where moist air flows over mountains. The Meteorological Observatory in Cherrapunjee, India, recorded 86 consecutive days of measurable rainfall<\/a> during the monsoon in 1995. Other rainy places include Southern New Zealand, Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea and western Colombia in South America.<\/p>\n

\n\"Closeup<\/a>
\nRain gauges are the most common tool for measuring rain.<\/span>
\nMorel J\/Andia\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you want to know how much it rains where you live, the best way is to install a rain gauge and start recording your own daily rainfall measurements. A great resource is the CoCoRahs Network<\/a>, a community of volunteers working to measure and map rain, hail and snow. <\/p>\n

Collecting data about the location and intensity of all kinds of precipitation really helps scientists like us understand weather systems and improve our weather forecasting. <\/p>\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.<\/em><\/p>\n

And since curiosity has no age limit \u2013 adults, let us know what you\u2019re wondering, too. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

Lynn McMurdie<\/a>, Research Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington<\/a><\/em> and Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik<\/a>, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lynn McMurdie, University of Washington and Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik, Washington State University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. What is the longest time it has ever rained for? \u2013 Wayne The answer is \u2013 it depends. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":28144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3410,8],"tags":[1940,4190,6689,6786,4451,904,9279,9903,6096,8903,11083,9653,256,11084],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28217,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28143\/revisions\/28217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}