We've all lived through a rainy week that felt like it would never end. Now imagine that week lasting all year. Is there really a town where it rains almost every single day?
The short answer: not quite. The place best known for near-daily rain is the summit of Mount Waiʻaleʻale on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, which sees rain on about 335 days a year by one record book's count. But it's a remote mountaintop, not a town. The wettest town on Earth is Mawsynram in India, and it gets most of its enormous rainfall during the monsoon months, with a short dry season.
Hawaii's Rippling Water Mountain
Mount Waiʻaleʻale rises 5,148 feet and is the second-highest point on Kauaʻi. Its name means rippling water or overflowing water, and it lives up to it. The Guinness Book of Weather Records lists 335 days of rain a year, and one other source claims 360.
Since 1912, the summit has averaged more than 373 inches of rain a year, with a record 683 inches in 1982. Unlike many rainy places, the rain there is spread fairly evenly through the year.
Geography is the secret. The mountain is positioned to catch passing weather systems, and its steep cliffs force moist air to rise more than 4,000 feet in less than half a mile. As the air shoots up, it cools and wrings out its moisture. Deep valleys on three sides funnel even more wet air toward the peak.
Height helps too. The peak sits just below a layer in the atmosphere, around 6,000 feet up, that the clouds carried by the trade winds can't rise above. So those clouds stack up right around the summit. Kauaʻi's tourism industry happily promotes the mountain as one of the wettest places on Earth.
The Wettest Town on Earth
If you want a place where people actually live, head to Mawsynram, a town in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya state in northeastern India. It is reportedly the wettest place on Earth, averaging about 467 inches of rain a year.
According to Guinness World Records, Mawsynram received an astonishing 1,023 inches of rain in 1985. And on June 17, 2022, it set a new single-day record of about 39.5 inches in 24 hours.
But Mawsynram's rain isn't spread evenly. The vast majority falls during the long monsoon season, and the town does get a short dry season. So rain every day? Not quite, but when it rains, it truly pours.
A Friendly Rivalry
Mawsynram has competition. Its neighbor, Cherrapunji, just 9 miles away, has long competed for the title of wettest place on Earth. Records show Cherrapunji's rainfall has been trending downward, while Mawsynram's has slightly increased.
Two towns in Colombia also challenge Mawsynram's claim. Lloró reported an average of about 500 inches a year between 1952 and 1989, and López de Micay reported about 507 inches a year between 1960 and 2012.
Closer to Home
You don't have to leave the United States to find a soggy town. Ketchikan, Alaska, has earned the nickname Rain Capital of Alaska. It averages about 150 inches of rain a year, and its wettest year, 1949, brought more than 202 inches.
So while no town quite manages rain every single day, a few come close enough to keep the umbrella makers in business. If you ever visit one of them, pack a good raincoat.
