On This Date: 8+ Feet Of Rain Falls In Two Days, Setting A World Record

One of Earth's wettest locations saw a staggering two-day rainfall total of nearly 100 inches on this day 30 years ago.

Cherrapunji, India, recorded 98.15 inches of rain, or over 8 feet, from June 15-16, 1995. That's a world record for a 48-hour time period, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

For comparison, that's 30+ inches more rain in two days than the average rainfall for an entire year in Miami (67.41 inches) and New Orleans (63.35 inches).

Cherrapunji's rainy reputation is well earned due to the geography of where it's located in the northeast state of Meghalaya. It has an annual average rainfall of nearly 440 inches, according to the India Meteorological Department.

What makes it so wet is monsoonal moisture from the Bay of Bengal gliding over flatter Bangladesh and then ramming into the higher terrain where Cherrapunji is located. The mountainous terrain helps force air to rise, which then enhances rainfall through a process called orographic lift.

A huge majority of the rain falls in the summer, with both June and July picking up an average of more than 100 inches each. That's in dramatic contrast to the winter dry season when December and January combine to average just an inch of rain.

Cherrapunji also holds the world record for the most rain in a 12-month period. An incredible 1,042 inches fell there from August 1860 through July 1861.

Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with weather.com for 15 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.