Sunday’s historic rainfall was a nearly once-in-a-decade weather event. Here’s why.

Sunday’s deluge of rain set a precipitation record for Nov. 5, and it was even more historic than that.

The rainfall total of 3.57 inches, recorded at the Dayton International Airport, was the most on one day in more than 15 years, since September 2002, and the fifth-highest total since 1948, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Here are the Top 10 daily rainfall totals since Jan. 1, 1948:

DatePrecipitation
(in inches)
January 21, 19594.16
September 16, 20053.81
June 5, 19813.76
September 27, 20023.73
November 5, 20173.57
October 5, 19953.54
January 26, 19523.38
August 5, 19953.38
June 13, 19583.25
October 1, 19863.24

The rainfall total of 3.57 inches on Sunday was also more than the entire months of August (3.03 inches) and September (2.16 inches) this year.

And how often are daily precipitation records set, like the one on Sunday? Since the beginning of 2007, 42 days on the calendar have set a daily precipitation record. They are:

DateYear setPrecipitation
(in inches)
Jan. 820081.37
Feb. 220160.91
Feb. 2420161.63
Feb. 2920120.69
March 1820081.65
March 2020172.44
March 2320071.86
March 3120161.38
April 420111.43
April 820151.22
April 1120121.22
April 1920111.86
April 2820171.51
May 1520071.91
May 2120141.75
June 320081.44
June 420132.13
June 1420172.68
June 1620091.02
June 2320172.86
July 620172.22
July 2220081.59
Aug. 1420161.12
Aug. 1920090.64
Aug. 2920171.32
Sept. 420112.27
Sept. 720121.24
Sept. 820070.92
Sept. 1720160.77
Sept. 2620113.1
Oct. 220091.11
Oct. 1920111.92
Oct. 2620121.07
Oct. 2820151.96
Nov. 520173.57
Nov. 1120071.36
Nov. 2920110.65
Dec. 520111.94
Dec. 620140.71
Dec. 1920081.55
Dec. 2120132.46
Dec. 2820151.3

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