Comparing a Year of Rockford Weather With a Few Days of Houston’s Weather

It's hard to put into words what we're witnessing happen to Houston, Texas. It's even harder to fathom that things are still getting worse down there, with experts opining that we haven't seen the worst of the storm yet. We've had extensive flooding here in the Rockford area (along with a big part of northern Illinois) this summer, but nothing comes close to comparing with Hurricane Harvey's wrath.

Some contrasts between our two regions:

• Rockford averages about 35 inches of rain per year, with the U.S. average being 39.
• Houston averages about 49 inches of rain per year.
• Houston has already gotten over 36 inches of rain in the last 5 days. Some spots around Houston are looking at rainfall totals of over 50 inches.
• Rockford's wettest year produced 56.48 inches of rain in 1973.
• Houston is on pace to easily eclipse any and all past records for rain this year.
• Rockford's largest rainfall amount in 24 hours is 7.43 inches on July 17-18, 1996.
• Several areas in and around Houston have received over 15 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.
• The 16.07 inches that fell on Houston’s George Bush Airport on Sunday marks the single wettest day in Houston history, making up nearly a third of the 49.77 inches the city sees in an average year. More than two feet fell over the weekend, a record two-day amount.
• The August rainfall in Houston, largely from Harvey, shattered its record for any month by a whopping 13.47 inches.
• Already, the National Weather Service in Houston has issued 155 Tornado Warnings over just the duration of Harvey, far more than they’ve ever issued in any given year.