Central Park Again Records Wettest Hour In NYC History

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Remnants of Hurricane Ida bombarded New York City Wednesday night, with a single hour seeing the most rainfall ever recorded in Central Park by the National Weather Service since it started keeping records.

A total of 3.15 inches fell between 8:51 and 9:51 p.m., shattering the record for the most rain to drench the famous Manhattan park in an hour.

Correction: Central Park, NY has just observed 3.15 inches of rain in one hour, from 8:51 pm to 9:51 pm.
— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) September 2, 2021

The previous single-hour rainfall record of 1.94 inches was set just 10 days ago, when Tropical Storm Henri neared landfall on Aug. 21.

Central Park has kept rain totals since 1889.

Central Park row boat pond flooded out onto Bethesda Fountain plaza from the remnants of Hurricane Ida Wednesday evening, New York City

Stay healthy everyone and safe @MariaBartiromo @MorningsMaria @AlanEo21 @SherylFrase1 @dixonres @niceitaliangirl pic.twitter.com/aBcFTI8Qbh
— Marc B. (@K11Marc) September 2, 2021

"7.19 inches of rain fell in Central Park last night," Council Member Mark Levine tweeted. "Meterogoloists are calling it a once in 500-year event. But of course, that standard has to be entirely thrown out now. We are in uncharted territory."

Overall, on Wednesday night, Central Park recorded 4.65 inches of rain in two hours, and 5.20 inches in three hours, both of which are records for the allotted time.

@patkiernan central park lake flooding pic.twitter.com/aVoQiH165A
— magpiejst (@magpiejst) September 2, 2021

Brian Brettschneider, a PhD climatologist, tweeted out that the 3.15 inches seen in one hour in Central Park has a 200-year recurrence interval, while the three-hour total of 5.20 inches has a 500-year recurrence interval.

Read More:

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• 'Life Threatening' Flash Flood Emergency Issued For NYC
• NYC Under Tornado Watch As Ida Remnants Soak City