LITTLE ROCK — Tail-end showers helped swell the July rainfall records in both Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Little Rock's rainfall for July totaled 11.65 inches as of Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. The Little Rock rainfall record for July was last set at 9.23 inches in 1891.
Similarly, North Little Rock's rainfall for July surpassed the previous record for the month of 8.45 inches in 1988. The new July record is 9.12 inches.
Normal July rainfall averages are 3.31 inches in Little Rock and 3.15 inches in North Little Rock.
The last three days of the month had at least an inch and a half of rain each, which pushed the total rainfall up quickly, said Willie Gilmore, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
July 5 was the wettest day of the month for Little Rock, he said. It rained 2.68 inches.
"We knew it was going to be above-average rain," Gilmore said. "It's just the way theweather pattern is set up this past month. Just getting multiple storms coming across the same area over and over. That's typically how we get these heavy rains."
Thursday's downpour had put Little Rock at 42.51 inches of rain for the year so far, he said. Little Rock is quickly approaching its annual rainfall average, which is 50.93 inches.
July 21 was the wettest day of the month for North Little Rock, at 3.15 inches. North Little Rock had 41.86 inches of rain this year as of Friday afternoon. The 12-month average is 49.19 inches.
Pine Bluff had its seventhwettest July, at 8.69 inches. Its record is 14.16 inches. No other cities in Arkansas are known to have passed their rainfall records for July, Gilmore said.
More rain is expected over the weekend, he added.
"There are better chances that it will be wet than dry," he said. "At least the first few days [of August] will continue to have an active pattern. We may be stuck in this current pattern for a little while longer."
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 08/01/2009