United States' Rainiest Cities

Wettest Weather

Cities in the United States that receive the most precipitation each year don't necessarily have an exceptionally high number of rainy days.

Among the country's 56 largest urban populations, Buffalo and Rochester, New York most often have days when it's raining or snowing. But it's Miami and New Orleans that receive the most rain each year, as the rankings in the tables below show.

The two cities in New York State each average over 165 wet days a year. Yet Buffalo ranks 30th in the total precipitation it receives annually, with 40.7 inches (1033 millimetres). Rochester gets even less rain and snow. At 35.1 inches (891 mm) of precipitation a year, Rochester ranks 37th among major US cities for highest annual precipitation.

New Orleans, on the other hand, where it usually rains over five feet a year, receives more precipitation than any big city in the USA, except Miami. Yet it has far fewer wet days than many other cities. New Orleans ranks just 31st among large US cities in the number of days with precipitation, at 115 days a year.

It all comes down to how often a city gets severe rain or snow storms that drop a large amount of precipitation in a short time. The stormiest cities see more days with heavy rain, when an inch or more lands in a single day.

The major cities included in the weather rankings represent the 56 metropolitan areas in the United States with the biggest populations, all those with over one million people in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau. A complete list of America's 56 largest urban centers is available here.

Some cities, less sizeable than these, get even more rain than Miami. Wetter cities include Ft. Lauderdale and Pensacola in Florida, Hilo Hawaii, and Gulfport Mississippi. Several smaller cities and towns on the west coast of Oregon, Washington and Alaska also receive more than 67.4 inches a year of precipitation.

The precipitation totals are averages based on weather data collected from 1991 to 2020 for the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. You can also view precipitation averages for all major US cities and precipitation amounts in recent years.

Annual rainfall plus snowfall for major US cities that get over 45 inches (1143 millimetres) of precipitation a year

City	Inches	Milli­metres
Miami, Florida	67.4	1712
New Orleans, Louisiana	63.4	1609
Birmingham, Alabama	56.6	1438
Houston, Texas	55.6	1413
Memphis, Tennessee	54.9	1395
Orlando, Florida	51.5	1307
Nashville, Tennessee	50.5	1283
Atlanta, Georgia	50.4	1281
New York, New York	49.5	1258
Tampa, Florida	49.5	1257
Virginia Beach, Virginia	49.2	1249
Louisville, Kentucky	48.3	1228
Jacksonville, Florida	47.6	1209
Providence, Rhode Island	47.5	1208
Hartford, Connecticut	47.1	1195
Raleigh, North Carolina	46.1	1170

Most Rainy or Snowy Days

Large US cities where it rains or snows at least 0.01 inches on 130 or more days a year

City	Days
Rochester, New York	168
Buffalo, New York	166
Portland, Oregon	163
Cleveland, Ohio	159
Seattle, Washington	156
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	154
Grand Rapids, Michigan	149
Miami, Florida	141
Columbus, Ohio	141
Detroit, Michigan	136
Cincinnati, Ohio	136
Hartford, Connecticut	130
Orlando, Florida	130