Twin Cities Sees Wettest Year Ever – Breaking Century-Old Record

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- 2016 is almost over, and we're ending it setting a major record in the Twin Cities.

But it's not necessarily a good one.

After numerous heavy rain events and major flooding, this year the metro got more rain than ever before.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jacob Beitlich and his team paid close attention to the totals since last summer.

"The year was running right around normal up until mid-August, then we had some heavy rain," he said. "We had about 3 inches from the 10th to 12th of August."

The heavy rain affected communities across Minnesota.

In Willmar, roads closed and backyard ponds turned into lakes. A state of emergency was later declared in Northfield after the Cannon River spilled its banks, causing major flooding.

All the rain added up.

"After a really wet fall, then finally a couple good winter snowstorms, then it rained on Christmas Day," Beitlich said.

He and his crew kept a close watch on the holiday storm.

"Leading up to this past storm, we realized that if we got around an inch of rain we would set the yearly precipitation record for Minneapolis," he said.

While many factors come into play, climate change can't be ignored.

"With the warming temperatures, with the warming globe, if the poles, the North Pole, warms a little bit warmer, then you wouldn't have quite that temperature contrast," Beitlich said. "We speculate a slower jet stream, so the winds that are moving these storms that are driving these storms are moving slower so they persist for as longer and again the rain piles up."

As 2016 ends, the meteorologists at the National Weather Service expect that 2017 will bring less rain.

"I will boldly say that we won't have as much rain next year as we did this year just because we set the record, and it would be pretty tough to set it two years in a row," Beitlich said.

To be exact, the Twin Cities saw 40.32 inches of precipitation this year, eclipsing the previous record of 40.15 inches back in 1911.

Beitlich also mentioned that the river levels are pretty high for this time of the year, so flooding is again one of their concerns heading into spring.