2024 may have been the rainiest – as well as hottest – year on record

Global average precipitation in 2024 may have broken the previous record set in 1998, as rising temperatures boosted the amount of moisture in the atmosphere

In 2024, Earth received about 2.9 millimetres of rain per day. That may not sound like much, but it could represent a new record amount of precipitation for the planet.

Last year’s global average precipitation was about 3 per cent greater than the average since records began in 1983, and it just surpasses the previous record, set in 1998. The 2.9-millimetre number, based on preliminary data compiled by researchers at the Global Precipitation Climatology Project, may still change slightly as the data is finalised.

Cover photo: Flooding in Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2024. S LESSER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock