Original data
The downpours that flood basements are getting more common
We counted the heavy-rain days, an inch or more in a day, for about 200 US cities from 1995 to 2024, and compared the recent decade against the late 1990s. In 65 of them, heavy-rain days are up at least 20%. Appleton, WI leads, up 63%. These are the storms that outrun drainage built for a drier past.
Where heavy rain climbed the most
Cities ranked by the rise in heavy-rain days per year. Each links to the full local breakdown.
| City | 1990s → now (heavy days/yr) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Appleton, WI | 3.1 → 5 | +63% |
| Houston, TX | 10.2 → 16.5 | +62% |
| Flint, MI | 2.7 → 4.2 | +58% |
| Austin, TX | 6.3 → 9.8 | +55% |
| Joliet, IL | 4.8 → 7.3 | +53% |
| Eagan, MN | 4.4 → 6.7 | +53% |
| Plano, TX | 9.3 → 14 | +51% |
| Cicero, IL | 4.9 → 7.3 | +49% |
| O'Fallon, MO | 6.5 → 9.7 | +49% |
| Hammond, IN | 5 → 7.4 | +48% |
| Oshkosh, WI | 2.8 → 4.1 | +48% |
| Dallas, TX | 8.9 → 13.2 | +48% |
| Saint Paul, MN | 3.7 → 5.5 | +46% |
| Omaha, NE | 5.3 → 7.7 | +46% |
| Bloomington, MN | 4.4 → 6.3 | +44% |
| Bellevue, NE | 5.3 → 7.6 | +44% |
| Gary, IN | 4.6 → 6.6 | +43% |
| Mesquite, TX | 8.8 → 12.6 | +43% |
| Roanoke, VA | 5.9 → 8.4 | +42% |
| Garland, TX | 9.3 → 13.1 | +42% |
| Alexandria, VA | 6.9 → 9.8 | +41% |
| Gaithersburg, MD | 7.5 → 10.5 | +40% |
| Maple Grove, MN | 3.8 → 5.3 | +39% |
| Schaumburg, IL | 4 → 5.5 | +38% |
| Green Bay, WI | 2.8 → 3.9 | +38% |
| Saint Charles, MO | 7.1 → 9.9 | +38% |
| Frisco, TX | 9.1 → 12.5 | +38% |
| Nashville, TN | 10.5 → 14.4 | +38% |
| Murfreesboro, TN | 9.7 → 13.3 | +38% |
| Irving, TX | 8.9 → 12.3 | +37% |
| Minneapolis, MN | 3.9 → 5.3 | +36% |
| Arlington Heights, IL | 4 → 5.4 | +35% |
| Plymouth, MN | 3.8 → 5.1 | +35% |
| Naperville, IL | 5.1 → 6.8 | +32% |
| Lakewood, CO | 1.3 → 1.7 | +32% |
| Chicago, IL | 4.9 → 6.5 | +31% |
| McKinney, TX | 9.7 → 12.7 | +31% |
| Aurora, IL | 5.1 → 6.7 | +30% |
| Rochester, MN | 4.7 → 6.1 | +30% |
| Boulder, CO | 1.3 → 1.7 | +30% |
| Waterloo, IA | 5.7 → 7.3 | +29% |
| Lowell, MA | 7.2 → 9.3 | +29% |
| Stamford, CT | 8.4 → 10.9 | +29% |
| Rockford, IL | 4 → 5.1 | +28% |
| Buffalo, NY | 3.5 → 4.5 | +28% |
| Des Moines, IA | 5.7 → 7.2 | +27% |
| Baltimore, MD | 9.9 → 12.6 | +27% |
| Rockville, MD | 7.9 → 10 | +27% |
| Camden, NJ | 7.5 → 9.4 | +26% |
| New Haven, CT | 8.8 → 11.1 | +26% |
| Saint Louis, MO | 8.1 → 10.1 | +25% |
| Harrisonburg, VA | 5.1 → 6.3 | +25% |
| Colorado Springs, CO | 1.1 → 1.3 | +25% |
| York, PA | 6.5 → 8 | +24% |
| Waterbury, CT | 8.8 → 10.9 | +24% |
| San Antonio, TX | 6 → 7.5 | +24% |
| Kenosha, WI | 4.3 → 5.3 | +23% |
| Utica, NY | 7 → 8.6 | +23% |
| Philadelphia, PA | 7.8 → 9.5 | +22% |
| Edison, NJ | 8.4 → 10.3 | +22% |
| Waukesha, WI | 3.8 → 4.6 | +21% |
| Bethel Park, PA | 5.5 → 6.6 | +21% |
| Broken Arrow, OK | 8.9 → 10.7 | +21% |
| Brockton, MA | 8.5 → 10.3 | +20% |
| Aurora, CO | 1.3 → 1.6 | +20% |
Methodology
Source is ERA5 reanalysis via the Open-Meteo archive: daily precipitation per city, 1995 to 2024. A heavy-rain day is any day with 25.4mm (1 inch) or more. For each city we take the average annual count in the recent half of the record and compare it with the early half. We list a city here only when that increase is 20% or more, so the trend is real and not noise. Free to cite with a link to this page.