MACON, Ga. — Hurricane Sally was a perfect example of how water, not wind, is often the more significant impact from a land falling tropical system. On Wednesday, meteorologists watched as sally dumped more than two feet of rain over the panhandle of Florida and south Alabama. Wednesday night into Thursday, that torrential rainfall shifted northeast into Georgia and the Carolinas leading to flash flooding, washed out roads, and rising river levels.
In Central Georgia, Sally produced widespread rainfall totals of four to six inches in just a few short hours. The Middle Georgia Regional Airport airport recorded over seven inches of rain between Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon. Those seven inches allowed Macon to surpass 50 inches of rainfall on the year, and it is only September.
This big boost in the yearly rainfall total helps put 2020 back in contention for the top 5 wettest years on record. If it were to not rain another drop for the rest of the year, 2020 would already finish as the 30th wettest year on record. If Macon records a little less than 8 inches of rain through the next three and a half months, the 2020 will crack the top five wettest years on record.
So, how difficult will it be to achieve this feat? It should be pretty easy. From September 18th through the end of the year, Macon averages 11.7 inches of rain. As long as Macon records near average rainfall through the rest of the year, not only will 2020 finish as a top five wettest year, it will finish third wettest all time.
