Record Rainfall Reported At Reagan Airport: Report

ARLINGTON, VA -- We all know it rained quite a bit on Tuesday afternoon. But apparently, it set some records, with an astonishing 2.63 inches of rain recorded in just 42 minutes at Reagan National Airport.

The area had been suffering from a "flash drought" for the last 19 days with no measurable rainfall, but Tuesday's storm made up for that in a big way.

“I’ve been here 40 years,” said airport observer Nicholas Parrell according to a report from the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang. “I’ve never had that.”

(For more news and information like this, subscribe to the Arlington Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook!)

A total of 2.79 inches fell in a little more than an hour during the storm, which is a record for July 17 -- and by a lot, as the previous mark was 2.05 inches in 1945. It was also the biggest single-day rainfall for the airport since July 28, 2017, and the second-most in July since 1975.

The sudden rainfall left dozens of cars flooded on the George Washington Parkway, forcing rescuers to take drivers to dry land by boat. You can view some of the remarkable photos and video from Tuesday at Patch's previous story on the rainfall.

Image via Arlington Fire Department