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Dry spell abruptly ends; here’s how much rain fell

Posted at 2:05 PM, Oct 11, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-11 15:34:35-04

RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond International Airport picked up 1.24" of rain on September 1-2.  Since then, rainfall has been scarce.  This dry spell ended abruptly Tuesday.

Repeated showers and thunderstorms rolled through central Virginia from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning.  The heaviest rainfall occurred north of Richmond.  A swath of three to six-inch totals stretched from eastern Louisa county through western Hanover to Caroline county  over to near Tappahannock.

The above map is 24-hour Doppler-estimated rainfall totals ending at 1 pm Wednesday.  Here are some pictures from John Hummer, who recorded 6.25" of rain in Ruther Glen:

Rainfall across Richmond ranged from a few tenths of an inch to around 2.5 inches.  Up until this rainfall, the Richmond metro area was running over three inches below normal since September 1, and over four inches below normal for the year.

A front in the area, combined with tropical-levels of humidity, allowed the repeated showers and storms to unleash torrential downpours.  Here are some radar snapshots of the heavy rain moving through:

Rain chances through Friday will be lower, but isolated heavier downpours will still be possible.  Dry weather is expected this weekend.  It looks like we may be in another drier period this month.

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