What are the top 10 rainiest cities in America?

When you ask people which they think are America’s rainiest cities, people often seem to come up with the soggy cities of the Pacific Northwest, especially Portland, Oregon,  and Seattle, Washington. They even have a saying in Oregon, that “people round here don’t tan, they rust.” And so they keep the myth going – maybe they think it helps keep the Northwest from being overrun with newcomers or visitors!

In fact, the rainiest cities in America are in the opposite corner of the country from the Pacific Northwest – the soggiest cities, towns, and suburbs are all in the land of sunshine, the Southeast! And the startling truth is that if you look at the top 20 wettest cities in America, the Pacific Northwest is not even found anywhere on the list.

According to a 2007 study,  the ten wettest cities are all in the south or southeast, and cover just four states, including Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. The study focused on the continental United States. If it had expanded to include Alaska or Hawaii, it would have included places in those states that top 100 inches of rain per year!

Perhaps the reason people think the Pacific Northwest is the rainiest place in America is because they are looking at the number of days in a year that could be called “rainy days.” Indeed, by that measure, the Northwest does come in first, with Olympia, Washington, recording on average 63 rainy days per year. (The study looked at averages over a 30 year span). But having the most rainy days does not necessarily mean you have the most rain. It all depends how much rain actually falls. The Pacific Northwest often experiences misty weather, with just a trace of actual rain falling on a given day. By contrast, the frequently-sunny Southeast can change from a dry, sunny day to a torrential tropical downpour in a matter of hours.

Believe it or not, the wettest, dampest city in America, with an average annual rainfall of 67 inches per year, is Mobile, Alabama. That is about 5 ½ feet of rain per year!

Here is the list of the top ten rainiest cities in the U.S. based on 30 years’ worth of data:

To put these rainfall numbers into some perspective – New York gets about 46 inches of rain per year, Los Angeles get about 15 inches, and the much-maligned Seattle gets just 38 inches per year.

The reason for the heavy Southeast rainfall is the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Especially in the summer, the warm ocean waters fuel tropical storms that frequently drop huge amounts of rain over Gulf coast states in short periods of time.

If you live in one of America’s wettest regions, you might like to know where to go to dry out on your next vacation. The answer is, head west. Phoenix and Las Vegas are the only two American cities that see more than 200 sunny days per year, with Phoenix enjoying 211 such days on average, and Las Vegas racking up 210.  If that sounds a little too hot, then try Tucson, El Paso, or Fresno, California. Ranked number 3 -5 on America’s “sunny” scale, they get around 190 bright, sunny days per year. And very little rain.

Neil Street is a freelance writer and publisher. He suggests rain ponchos or umbrellas if you travel to any of the cities mentioned in this article.