Fla. Rainfall Was 'Historic,' Weather Service Says

Although hurricane season has not yet arrived, Florida Panhandle residents and parts of coastal Alabama saw disastrous flooding from record rainfall Monday and Tuesday more akin to amounts seen in tropical storms than a spring weather system.

According to data from the weather station at Pensacola Regional Airport, 15.55 inches of rain -- the greatest rainfall amount from any calendar day on record -- fell Tuesday. Data from the station go back to 1879.

"The 24-hour amount is between a 1 in 50 and 1 in 100 year event," forecasters from the National Weather Service Mobile/Pensacola Forecast Office wrote in a report on the storm. The two-day total, at 20.47 inches, is between a one-in-100- and one-in-200-year event.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tracked an increase in extremes of one-day precipitation in the United States, a change that is in line with how climate change is projected to affect severe weather.

Fla. Rainfall Was 'Historic,' Weather Service Says