An unprecedented, record-breaking summer of rainfall continues on in spite of a deceptive break this past Friday and Saturday. After a short spell of fall-like weather the humidity cranked up Sunday and an approaching storm system produced an astonishing amount of rain for some parts of our area.

A warm front draped across central West Virginia served as the focal point for a training line of heavy rain that lasted for about five hours Sunday night over parts of Putnam, Kanawha and Fayette counties.

Between 2 inches to as much as an incredible 6 inches fell in that time, resulting in significant flooding, especially in southeast Kanawha and Fayette counties. Winds along that front were light and aligned with the trajectory of the rain, which is what led to the persistent downpours as the rain continued to build back to the west over the same locations. Outside of this band rainfall totals were a much more modest 1 inches or less with no problems noted.

Charleston recorded almost 4 and a half inches of rain during this time, and it marked the third wettest day on record, only behind the devastating Garrison Avenue flood downpour in July 1961 and Aug. 3, 1958.

Speaking of 1958, that holds the Charleston record for most rainfall in a summer (meteorological summer starts June 1 and goes through the end of August). It won't hold that record for long. 2022 is less than half an inch away from breaking that number now and with two weeks still left in the month and plenty more opportunities for rain, it's not a matter of if but when that record gets broken. It will likely happen before the end of this upcoming weekend.