THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 1, 1994 TAG: 9408010070
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
With only hours to spare, July sloshed into the record books Sunday as the wettest ever in Hampton Roads, thanks to a final dousing of more than two inches of rain Sunday at Norfolk International Airport.
Total rainfall for the month was 14.37 inches as of 9 p.m. Sunday, and there was a chance for still more rain before midnight.
The old record was 13.73 inches, set in 1975. Continuous weather observations in the region date back to 1871.
Rainfall for the year is now almost 10 inches above normal, at 36.25 inches. Average rainfall by the end of July is 26.7 inches.
A downpour at the airport between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. pushed the region's official rainfall total to the record mark. For the day, 2.02 inches of rain had fallen by 9 p.m.
That also was enough to make this the second wettest of any month on record in the region. Only August 1942 had more rainfall, with 15.61 inches, the Weather Service said.
High pressure anchored off the Atlantic coast brought a moist airflow across the mid-Atlantic region. That produced showers and thunderstorms across much of eastern Virginia and North Carolina.
And there is little chance that the daily dose of rain will soon end. Here is the forecast:
Today - Partly sunny, warm and humid with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. The high should be in the upper 80s. The chance of rain is 30 percent.
Tonight - Fair. The low should be in the mid 70s.
Tuesday - Partly sunny with a 30 percent chance of afternoon showers or thunderstorms and a high near 90.
Wednesday - Partly sunny, hot and humid with widely scattered afternoon or evening showers and thunderstorms with a high between 85 and 90. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN C. BELL
Keith Lathinghouse of Norfolk hooks a tow rope to the car of Renee
Gee of Fayetteville, N.C., after her Cadillac stalled in flood
waters on East Ocean View Avenue on Sunday. Gee, who is on vacation
in the area, said she had never driven in water that high.
KEYWORDS: RECORD RAIN WEATHER by CNB