Province breaks record for monthly rainfall

The heavy rainfall in the province during the month of September was record-breaking, according to a P.E.I. meteorologist.

Weather Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada Linda Libby said rainfall amounts at the Charlottetown Airport in September set a record for the Island, beating out the previous record precipitation amount set in December 1990 by 19.7 millimetres.

Rainfall at the Charlottetown airport measured 273.0 millimetres in September, not including data for Sept. 21 which had some rain.

The Sept. 21 data was excluded because of a technical problem, said meteorologist Bridget Thomas.

The Charlottetown site, located north of the downtown, has the all time record for the Charlottetown area from September 1942 at 315.0 millimetres.

It was a very wet September after a dry summer, said Libby.

A record breaking year for weather

Daily rainfall records were broken in several Maritime communities at the beginning of September as the tail end of Hurricane Isaac blew through.

Charlottetown got a whopping 62.2 millimetres, breaking its old record of 26.8 millimetres, which dates back to 1966.

This summer's warm weather has raised water temperatures, which have been about 5 C above average this year. That has brought some tropical visitors into Maritime waters.

September 2012 was the wettest September on record in Nova Scotia, with 386.8 millimetres of rain, according to Environment Canada.

In March, wacky weather broke heat records throughout much of the country.