Here’s how much rain Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill got from Debby. Latest counts
Five-day rainfall totals after Debby — which began as a drizzle Aug. 6, shifted to downpours through last Thursday and eventually petered out by Saturday — varied several inches across Wake, Durham and Orange counties.
Though Debby entered North Carolina as a tropical storm and was later downgraded to a tropical depression, the state got pummeled with heavy rain, tornadoes, significant flooding and other severe storm conditions that left thousands without power and killed four people.
The five-day counts from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) — a national nonprofit that measures local rainfall and submits data to the National Weather Service — show Triangle totals as high as 7.47 inches in Durham County. There are more than 3,600 active observers in North Carolina.
“This data really shows the value of citizen scientists in helping us better understand when and where rain falls during events like this,” said NC State climatologist Corey Davis.
“The National Weather Service can look at those totals to consider where the local flooding potential is the greatest. And for our state drought monitoring, those reports are also extremely useful to see which areas had enough rain to bring drought improvements, and who might have missed out.”
Even though Debby’s rain began on Aug. 6 in the Triangle, The News & Observer analyzed CoCoRaHS measurements from Aug. 7 to 11. The network’s observations are taken each morning, so you have to look at the following day (Aug. 7) to get accurate totals from the previous day (Aug. 6), NWS Raleigh meteorologist Tom Green told The N&O.
“The most rain we saw around the [Triangle] area was over 8 inches in Cumberland County near Fayetteville, while most of the Raleigh area saw 5 to 6 inches,” Green said.
Here are the five-day totals for Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding towns beginning Aug. 7. The station names include the distance each rain gauge is from the center of the town/city it’s in with a compass direction.
How much rain did Raleigh get from Debby?
CoCoRaHS measured the highest rainfall amount at 6.53 inches in the North Haven neighborhood near North Raleigh. The lowest amount was in the Patrick Commons neighborhood (closer to Cary) with 3.1 inches.
But Davis is skeptical of this figure, since the lowest nearby total is 4.59 inches. He suspects the lowest seemingly accurate total is 3.95 inches in Wake Forest, near the Franklin County line, he said.
Raleigh 9.7 miles SSW: 5.90 inches
Raleigh 5.6 miles NW: 5.75 inches
Raleigh 5.4 miles NNE: 5.58 inches
Raleigh 7.9 miles SSW: 5.29 inches
Raleigh 3.5 miles NNW: 4.61 inches
Raleigh 6.3 miles ENE: 4.2 inches
See the map at maps.cocorahs.org.
Reports show Cary/Apex got the most Debby rainfall
A Cary neighborhood received the most rainfall in Wake County, the network’s data shows, with 6.76 total inches across five days. The heavy rainfall was recorded near Green Level High School on Roberts Road.
Most CoCoRaHS observations Aug. 7-11 in Cary and Apex show between 5 and 6.5 inches of rain. The lowest amount was in Cary’s Stonehaven neighborhood with 4.72 inches.
See the map at maps.cocorahs.org.
How much rain did Durham get from Debby?
CoCoRaHS measured the highest rainfall amount at 7.47 inches in northwest Durham’s West Hills neighborhood. The lowest amount was near the Bluffs of the Eno neighborhood (about seven miles north of downtown) with 3.5 inches.
Durham 5.8 miles NW: 6.81 inches
Durham 4.6 miles WNW: 6.67 inches
Durham 2.3 miles SW: 6.35 inches
Durham 6.7 miles S: 6.19 inches
Durham 4.5 miles E: 5.55 inches
Durham 2.6 miles S: 5.28 inches
Durham 8.0 miles NNE: 4.58 inches
See the map at maps.cocorahs.org.
How much rain did Chapel Hill get from Debby?
Rural northern Orange County saw the county’s highest rainfall amount with 6.97 inches. Most CoCoRaHS observations Aug. 7-11 in Chapel Hill show between 4.5 and 6.5 inches of rain.
Chapel Hill 4.3 miles WSW: 6.56 inches
Chapel Hill 2.2 miles N: 5.34 inches
Chapel Hill 4.0 miles WNW: 5.06 inches
Chapel Hill 2.5 miles N: 4.93 inches
Chapel Hill 2.7 miles WNW: 4.42 inches
See the map at maps.cocorahs.org.
Where did it rain the most in NC from Debby?
Northern Brunswick County saw the highest amounts of rainfall from Debby, Davis wrote in a blogpost for the NC State Climate Office.
A citizen weather observer in Leland had a storm total of 15.75 inches, while a pair of nearby CoCoRaHS observers each recorded more than 14 inches.
Inspired by a story from The Island Packet in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 12:38 PM.