Tropical Storm Colin will likely not go down in history as the most memorable tropical event for Southwest Floridians. In fact, the center of Colin steered clear of Southwest Florida until it finally made landfall near the Florida Big Bend. However, the outer bands and the residual tropical moisture over the area were enough to break records in Punta Gorda.
The Tampa Office of the National Weather Service released their preliminary rainfall totals and it shows some staggering numbers! It reveals that while Fort Myers and other areas may have experienced relentless rain, the prize goes to Punta Gorda when it comes to accumulations. In just the first 10 ten days of June, the measuring station at Punta Gorda Airport recorded 10.43 inches of rain, making it already the wettest June since record- keeping began in 1914. That's an average of nearly one inch of rain a day! There were two days where more than two inches of rain fell (the 4th and 9th). Now, keep in mind Punta Gorda typically averages 8.94 inches for the month of June. It looks like now Punta Gorda could come close to doubling that before the month ends.
In Fort Myers, 6.25 inches of rain fell in the first ten days, making it the 11th wettest so far. Although 6 inches may sound like a lot, it still comes shy of the average for the month which is 10.09 inches.
But not everyone got impressive totals. Only 2.38 inches fell in Naples between June 1st and June 10th. That's still a decent bite out of the 8.82 average for the month.
Source: NWS Tampa Climate Data, NWS Miami Climate Data, USCliamteData.com
