Orlando could see record stretch of rain

Could Central Florida be on its way to breaking the record for consecutive days of measurable rain?

The current run looks to continue through Monday, with the chance of precipitation far above normal at 60 percent to 80 percent through then. If that holds, Orlando may be more than halfway to the record with 10 straight days of rain.

The mark was set in 2002 with 19 straight in Orlando, ending July 2.

The headline for a top Orlando Sentinel story on July 2 read: “SUN COULD KICK OUT SOGGINESS IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY BARBECUES; AFTER 18 DAYS OF RAIN IN A ROW — TAXING CENTRAL FLORIDIANS' PATIENCE — RELIEF MIGHT BE ON THE MENU.”

In that story was a lot of complaining about sinkholes forming, cars wrecking, vacations ruined, construction slowing and grass growing wild.

On July 3 that year, the weather service recorded just a trace of rain, ending more than 2½ weeks of measurable rain.

It then went on to rain on 17 more days that July.

That 19-day run tied with one in 1923, ending June 7.

Also in the top 5 for consecutive days of recorded rain was 17 ending July 17, 1918.

There were 16 consecutive days ending Sept. 7, 1953, 15 ending June 7, 1922 and July 19, 1965, and 14 ending Sept. 10, 1931 and June 23, 1957.

What’s in common with those monsoonal streaks is they came after the start of Orlando’s rainy season, which the National Weather Service pegs at May 27.