Rain records fall in Pa., N.J. as nation marks its wettest year on record

Juiced by the second-wettest May on record, the nation just experienced its wettest 12-month period on record, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

The agency also reported Thursday that both New Jersey and Pennsylvania had all-time highs for precipitation for any June-through-May period; it didn’t address whether those were records for any 12-month periods.

That technicality notwithstanding, it has been wet.

Yet again this week not a single acre of the nation was under U.S. Drought Monitor’s “severe drought” designation, and soil moisture remains well above normal in much of the nation.

Around here, the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center reports that precipitation in every county in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware has been substantially above normal during the last year.

Philadelphia has received just over 5 feet of rain, snow, and assorted muck in the last 365 days, or better than 15 inches more than average.

Chester County is running close to 2 feet above normal.

Looking ahead, shockingly the weekend forecast is splendid; dry with highs in the 80s.

But showers creep back into the forecasts from Sunday night through Thursday.

And the government’s extended outlook favors above-normal precipitation from here to the solstice.

At least the grasses are soaking it up.