That wasn't just a heavy rain in the Detroit area Monday; it was a record-breaking one.
The 2.68 inches of rainfall recorded at Detroit Wayne County International Airport broke the previous record for July 28 rainfall of 2.16 inches, set in 2011.
"There was a storm that developed right over the airport, and it basically parked there for about 45 minutes," said Kevin Kacan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's southeast Michigan office in White Lake.
"It was a really humid environment; the storm didn’t move and heavy rainfall continued over the same spot. It essentially led to nearly 3 inches of rainfall in about 2.5 hours."
The storms prompted flash flood warnings in the region, and flooded roadways and stranded vehicles were reported in west-central Wayne County and southern Macomb County.
The storms also caused widespread power outages across the region. According to DTE Energy, over 11,000 customers were without power Monday afternoon. Consumers Energy reported nearly 9,000 outages.
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Michigan also had 30 reported tornadoes this year, most recently in Deckerville in the Thumb on July 26. Michigan's record year for documented tornadoes is 39 in 1974, and an average year since 1995 has seen 13 tornadoes statewide.
"It's generally been a warmer and more humid summer than normal with a higher frequency of thunderstorm activity," Kacan said, adding that most of the tornadoes reported have been weak, ranking as 0 or 1, the lowest numbers on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale measuring tornado intensity. Kacan said the uptick in tornado reports could involve their locations, with more witnesses spotting them.
Contact Keith Matheny: [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit breaks daily rainfall record as extreme weather continues
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