Rain reigns: Tallahassee storm totals top 8 inches in places

Tallahassee got twice as much rain over the past three days or so — nearly 8 inches and counting — than it normally does for the entire month of December.

From 9 p.m. Friday night, when the rain started, to 7 a.m. Monday morning, some 7.86 inches of rain fell at Tallahassee International Airport, said Eric Bunker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

Tallahassee normally gets a little less than 4 inches of rain in December, Bunker said. Showers later in the morning and afternoon only pushed storm totals higher.

The deluge prompted the city of Tallahassee to cancel its annual Winter Festival on Saturday.

It also touched off minor to moderate river flooding throughout the area. But the rain was expected to finally stop Monday night, with cooler and drier weather expected through the rest of the work week.

“Once these showers push through, it’s going to dry out for the next few days,” Bunker said. “Basically the rivers are going to crest over the next two, three or maybe four days. A lot of rain fell up in Georgia and it’s going to take time for that rain to flow downstream.”

A flood warning was issued for the Ochlockonee River near Bloxham (State Road 20), where the river was forecast to continue rising to near 21.3 feet by Monday night. The Weather Service said that at 22 feet, water begins to affect more homes along all of Crooked Road in Leon County. In Marianna, a flood warning was issued for the Chipola River at U.S. Highway 90. The river was expected to rise by Saturday morning to 19 feet, enough to further impact the Florida Caverns state park, which saw 80 to 90 percent of its trees fall during Hurricane Michael.

More: Hurricane Michael toppled 80 percent of its trees. Now Florida Caverns State Park digs out

The rain expanded a large crater that formed in the small town of Bristol in the weeks following Michael. But the hole, the product of severe erosion, did not creep into a nearby county cemetery as some had feared.

“It’s definitely grown,” said Robin Hatcher, town clerk for Bristol. “But the cemetery is still safe, thank goodness.”

More:Giant crater opens up in Bristol threatening homes and cemetery

The big rainfall totals were caused by a stalling cold front, an abundance of moisture in the air and something called "storm training," where rain falls over the same area during a certain period of time, Bunker said.

The rain only added to a sizable rainfall surplus for 2018. Tallahassee this year has seen over 69 inches of rain, which is more than 13 inches above normal.

Rain isn’t expected again until Saturday. With Monday’s passage of the cold front, high temperatures are expected to range from the low 60s to mid-50s through the rest of the week, with lows in the 30s.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew @tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

Rainfall amounts

Here are 72-hour rainfall amounts reported Monday to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee:

9.40 inches, J.R. Alford Greenway

9.11 inches, Southwood 

8.93 inches, 4 miles east-northeast of Monticello

7.75 inches, Florida State University

6.30 inches, Killearn Estates