Europe
In the United Kingdom most rain is driven into the country by the south-western trade winds following the warm gulf stream currents. Areas along the western coasts can receive between 1000 mm (40 in, at sea-level) and 2500 mm (100 in, on the mountains) of rain per year.
Meanwhile, Bergen in Norway is one of the more famous European rain-cities with its yearly precipitation of 2250 mm (88 in) on average.
North America
One city that is known for rain is Seattle, Washington. Rain is common in the winter, but mostly the climate is cloudy with little rain. Seattle's average rainfall is 942 mm (37.1 in) per year,[8] less than New York City's 1173 mm (46.2 in),[9] but Seattle has 201 cloudy days per year, compared to 152 in New York. Seattle's neighbor to the south, Portland, Oregon, gets more rain with an average of 1143 mm (45 in) a year. [10] However, it should be noted that Seattle lies in the rain shadow of the nearby Olympic Mountains, with some locations on the windward sides of the mountains receiving close to 3300 mm (about 130 in) per year.[11] The wettest city in the 48 contiguous United States is Mobile, Alabama, which average 1702 mm (67 in) of rainfall per year.[12] Ketchikan and other locations in the temperate rainforest of southeast Alaska get an average of 4064 mm (160 in) of rain a year,[13] sometimes receiving over 5000 mm (about 200 inches) in a year.
Asia
B. Very small raindrops are almost spherical in shape.
C. Larger raindrops become flattened at the bottom, like that of a hamburger bun, due to air resistance.
D. Large raindrops have a large amount of air resistance, which makes them begin to become unstable.
E. Very large raindrops split into smaller raindrops due to air resistance.
Cherrapunji, situated on the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalaya in Shillong, India is one of the wettest places on Earth, with an average annual rainfall of 11,430 mm (450 in). The highest recorded rainfall in a single year was 22,987 mm (904.9 in) in 1861.
The 38-year average at Mawsynram, Meghalaya, India is 11,873 mm (467.4 in). Like in Cherrapunji, Mawsynram's rainfall is concentrated in the monsoon season, while the rain at other famously humid places, like Tutunendo and Waialeale is more evenly distributed through the year. However, as there has been no meteorological department office, but a peon of the Meghalaya Public Works Department posted there in the area who takes the figure without supervision, Cherrapunji has been presented frequently as the wettest place in the world for statistical purposes. Doubts have been expressed by the knowledgeable about the rainfall data. In 1850, Joseph Dalton Hooker, a Royal Navy doctor turned naturalist, who spent the monsoon months at Cherrapunji, recorded such variations. "He was puzzled by the curiously localised patterns of rain; move your gauge a few hundred yards and it registered only half as much as before", writes Alexander Frater in his book, Chasing the Monsoon. This shows that recording the rainfall at the most humid places on earth has always been a difficult task for weathermen.[14]
| Year | Cherrapunji Rainfall (mm) | Mawsynram Rainfall (mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 12,262 | 11,300 |
| 2001 | 9,071 | 10,765 |
| 2000 | 11,221 | 13,561 |
| 1999 | 12,503 | 13,444 |
| 1998 | 14,536 | 16,090 |
South America
Lloró, a town situated in Chocó, Colombia, is probably the place with the largest measured rainfall in the world, averaging 13,300 mm per year (523.6 in). In fact, the whole Department of Chocó is extraordinarily humid. Tutunendo, a small town situated in the same department, is one of the wettest places on earth, averaging 11,394 mm per year (448 in); in 1974 the town received 26,303 mm (86 ft 3½ in), the largest annual rainfall measured in Colombia. Unlike Cherrapunji, which receives most of its rainfall between April and September, Tutunendo receives rain almost uniformly distributed throughout the year. The months of January and February have somewhat less frequent storms. On average, Tutunendo has 280 days with rainfall per year. Over ⅔ of the rain (68%) falls during the night. The average relative humidity is 90% and the average temperature is 26.4 °C.[15] Quibdó, the capital of Chocó, receives the most rain in the world among cities with over 100,000 inhabitants: 9000 mm (29 ft 6 in) per year. Storms in Chocó can drop 500 mm (19.7 in) of rainfall in a day. This amount is more than falls in many cities in a year's time.
Oceania
Although Australia is the world's driest continent, Mount Bellenden Ker in the north-east of the country records an average of 8000 mm (315 in) per year, with over 12,000 mm (472 in) of rain recorded in the year 2000.[16]
Melbourne has a similar reputation to Seattle's. In the popular imagination it is thought of as being much rainier than Sydney; however, Sydney receives an average of 1213 mm (47.8 in) of rain per year compared to Melbourne's 648 mm (25.5 in). Sydney, meanwhile, experiences 46 fewer overcast days per year than Melbourne, with 133 cloudy days, compared to Melbourne's 179.[17][18]
Mount Waialeale on the island of Kauaʻi in the Hawaiian Islands averages more than 11,680 mm (38 ft 4 in or 460 in) of rain over the last 32 years, with a record 17,340 mm (683 in) in 1982. Its summit is considered one of the rainiest spots on earth. It has been promoted in tourist literature for many years as the wettest spot in the world.
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