Albany, N.Y. – Historic rainfall totals are now rewriting parts of New York’s weather record books after a slow-moving storm unleashed extraordinary amounts of rain across the Northeast, leaving portions of the Hudson Valley with more than 10 inches of rainfall in just 24 hours and producing one of the state’s most significant precipitation events on record.
According to the National Weather Service Eastern Region, the storm delivered widespread heavy rain and embedded thunderstorms between Monday morning and Wednesday morning as a nearly stationary area of low pressure tapped deep tropical moisture. Preliminary observations show isolated rainfall totals exceeding 10 inches across eastern New York, western Massachusetts, western Connecticut, southern Vermont and southern New Hampshire.
The highest preliminary total reached 11.79 inches in Schodack, New York, with Kinderhook receiving 11.47 inches and Valatie measuring 10.31 inches. Other notable reports included 10.14 inches in Schodack 0.6 N, 9.03 inches near Catskill, 8.90 inches in Voorheesville, 8.87 inches near Germantown, 6.19 inches in New Milford, New Jersey, and 6.16 inches in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.
Albany International Airport measured 5.45 inches during the event, making it the second wettest calendar day ever recorded at the airport’s climate site dating to 1874. Only Sept. 16, 1999, when Hurricane Floyd produced 5.60 inches, recorded a wetter day. The National Weather Service noted Tropical Storm Irene’s 4.69-inch rainfall in 2011 now ranks third.
The agency also highlighted that a New York State Mesonet station in Rensselaer County measured 11.23 inches in 24 hours, placing this event among the greatest single-day rainfall episodes ever documented in New York. While it did not surpass the state’s all-time 24-hour rainfall record of 13.57 inches set at Islip in 2014, forecasters said the total would have exceeded New York’s previous longstanding record established in 1903 before that benchmark was broken.
Although the rain has ended, hydrologists and emergency managers continue assessing flood impacts across affected communities. Additional river responses and updated damage assessments may continue over the coming days as National Weather Service offices finalize storm reports.
