Thanks, Hilary: Look at all these rainfall records San Diego set in August

There have been rainy months in San Diego County, but we haven't had this wet of an August in a long time.

Weather in August was generally beautiful, except for the two days the sky split open as Tropical Storm Hilary spiraled through San Diego. In some places, two-day rainfall totals surpassed previous monthly records set nearly 50 years ago, according to data from the National Weather Service. In others, August 2023 was the wettest month on record.

Once Hilary was downgraded to a tropical storm, locals from across San Diego County went out to enjoy the rare rainfall.

Here's a look at where last month lands in the rainfall record books.

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Ramona
- 1977 - 2.17 inches
- 2023 - 2.04 inches
  - 2.03 inches on Aug. 20 beat the previous one-day record of 1.53 inches set on Aug. 17, 1977
- 1983 - 1.81 inches

Outside of those three years, Ramona has never seen more than an inch of rain in August dating back to 1974.

San Diego Airport
- 1977 - 2.13 inches
- 2023 - 1.84 inches
  - 1.82 inches on Aug. 20 beat the previous one-day record of 1.44 inches set on Aug. 16, 1977

You won't be able to find another year going back to 1939 when more than an inch of rain fell at Lindbergh Field.

Brown Field (Otay Mesa)
- 2023 - 1.43 inches
  - 1.41 inches on Aug. 20
- 1958 - .22 inches (also the previous one-day total set on Aug. 14)

Over the last 25 years at Brown Field, August has seen a hundredth of an inch of rain or less 20 times and a tenth of an inch or more only three times.

Photos: The miraculous pre-Hilary sunset in San Diego no one talked about

Escondido
- 2023 - 2.75 inches (1.37 inches on Aug. 20 and 1.34 inches on Aug. 21)
- 1945 - 2.20 inches
- 1977 - 2.13 inches
- 2007 - 1.45 inches

How out of place was all that rain in the Escondido area? From 2013 to 2022, the region only saw .28 inches of rain in August combined.

El Cajon
- 1951 - 1.92 inches
- 2023 - 1.89 inches
  - 1.2 inches on Aug. 20 and .69 inches on Aug. 21
- 1977 - 1.77 inches
- 1945 - 1.35 inches

Outside of those four years, the El Cajon area has never seen more than a half-inch of rain in August dating back 100 years.

Alpine
- 1977 - 3.09 inches
  - 1.75 inches on Aug. 17
- 2017 - 1.70 inches
- 1983 - 1.66 inches
- 2023 - 1.48 inches
  - 1.16 inches on Aug. 20

Chula Vista
- 1977 - 2 inches
- 2023 - 1.45 inches
  - .76 inches on Aug. 20 and .69 inches on Aug. 21
- 1945 - .67 inches

Outside of those three years, Chula Vista hasn't seen more than .35 inches of rain in August dating all the way back to 1924.

Palomar Mountain Observatory
- 1992 - 7.26 inches
- 2023 - 7.01 inches
  - 3.45 inches on Aug. 20 and 3.43 inches on Aug. 21
- 1977 - 4.24 inches
- 1983 - 4.08 inches

From 2018 to 2022, the mountain saw just 3.57 inches combined in August.

Observed Precipitation

Aug. 20, 6 a.m. - Aug. 21, 6 a.m. PT

Source: National Weather Service