Stalled system caused heavy rain in area

This is already the eighth-wettest August on record.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The heavy downpours that turned the Mahoning Valley into a soggy mess are over for now, but expect scattered rain through the weekend.

The National Weather Service reported 1.5 inches of rain Monday, the largest rain accumulation in a day in the Valley since 1.84 inches of rain fell Oct. 17, 2006.

The 1.5 inches is on top of the 1.19 inches of rain recorded by the weather service Sunday at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. The NWS compiles official weather records for the Valley at the airport.

Weather spotters for the service in Beloit and North Lima reported heavier rainfalls than the 2.69 inches at the airport for Sunday and Monday. The amount in Beloit was 3.77 inches, and in North Lima it was 3.56 inches.

The rain was the result of rain clouds that stalled over the state because there wasn’t enough wind to blow them elsewhere, said Gary Garnet, a meteorologist with the NWS in Cleveland.

Through the first 20 days of August, 5.21 inches of rain fell at the airport — or 1.39 inches more than average for that time-frame. All but 0.03 of an inch fell on five days: 1.5 on Monday, 1.19 on Sunday, 0.47 on Aug. 9, 1.2 on Aug. 7, and 0.82 on Aug. 5.

8th-wettest August

The 5.21 inches is already good enough to make this the eighth-wettest August since the NWS began recording weather for the Valley in 1943.

The wettest August on record is 1956, when 7.86 inches of rain fell.

All of this rain comes after the third-driest July in the Valley’s weather history. Only 1.61 inches of rain fell last month. The July monthly average for the area is 3.45 inches of rain.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected through Sunday, Garnet said.

Though the storms will be brief in comparison with those earlier in the week, there is a chance they can drop an inch of rain in a short period on parts of the Valley, he said.

For the entire area, though, the storms will result in accumulations of between 0.1 and 0.25 of an inch a day through Thursday, according to the NWS forecast. The service expects only a trace of rain Friday through Sunday.

The weather service’s forecast calls for a dry Monday.

While the recent weather in the Valley hasn’t been pleasant, it’s much better in comparison to other portions of Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety, Ohio Emergency Management Agency and other state agencies are assessing flood and wind damage in 19 counties including nearby Cuyahoga, Portage, Stark and Summit.

skolnick@vindy.com