Rainfall totals Wilmington, DE
Through Oct 7, 2026, Wilmington has received 36.41 inches of rain for the year, according to the official daily climate report. The normal year-to-date total is 35.65 inches. The normal figure is what the city would typically have seen by this point in the calendar. This reading comes from the station gauge at WILMINGTON AIRPORT in the National Weather Service's daily climate report.
as of
Data from Wilmington Airport, with records back to 1931. Across the record from 1931, 85 percent of days have a reading, with 100 percent in 2025.
Most recent rainfall
0.15 inches of rain fell on Oct 2, 2026, the latest measurable rainfall this year.
WILMINGTON AIRPORT saw no measurable rain on Oct 7, 2026, according to the National Weather Service daily climate report.
Official rainfall report for Oct 7, 2026
| Measured | Normal | vs normal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rain on Oct 7, 2026 | 0.00 inches | 0.13 inches | -0.13 inches |
| Last 48 hours | 0.00 inches | ||
| Last 72 hours | 0.00 inches | ||
| Last 7 days | 0.23 inches | ||
| Month to date | 0.24 inches | 0.91 inches | -0.67 inches (-74%) |
| Year to date | 36.41 inches | 35.65 inches | +0.76 inches (+2%) |
| Record for Oct 7 | 1.90 inches | 1907 |
Source: National Weather Service daily climate report for WILMINGTON AIRPORT, issued the morning after Oct 7, 2026. The local National Weather Service office issues the daily climate report for the airport station the next morning, and that report is the official figure.
How much rain did Wilmington get?
Days with measurable rain, 2026
| Date | Rainfall |
|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2026 | 0.15 inches |
| Sep 28, 2026 | 0.03 inches |
| Sep 27, 2026 | 1.58 inches |
| Sep 26, 2026 | 0.31 inches |
| Sep 23, 2026 | 0.03 inches |
| Sep 22, 2026 | 0.64 inches |
| Sep 21, 2026 | 0.06 inches |
| Sep 20, 2026 | 0.33 inches |
| Sep 19, 2026 | 0.02 inches |
| Sep 17, 2026 | 0.15 inches |
| Sep 13, 2026 | 0.84 inches |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 0.01 inches |
| Sep 3, 2026 | 0.98 inches |
| Sep 2, 2026 | 0.11 inches |
| Sep 1, 2026 | 0.64 inches |
| Aug 31, 2026 | 0.01 inches |
| Aug 30, 2026 | 0.04 inches |
| Aug 27, 2026 | 0.54 inches |
| Aug 23, 2026 | 0.37 inches |
| Aug 22, 2026 | 0.25 inches |
| Aug 20, 2026 | 1.07 inches |
| Aug 17, 2026 | 0.28 inches |
| Aug 16, 2026 | 0.32 inches |
| Aug 10, 2026 | 0.13 inches |
| Aug 8, 2026 | 0.35 inches |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 0.15 inches |
| Aug 5, 2026 | 0.68 inches |
| Aug 3, 2026 | 1.13 inches |
| Aug 2, 2026 | 0.50 inches |
| Jul 28, 2026 | 1.85 inches |
With 2.59 inches on Jul 9, 2026, this is the 48th wettest of the 9,350 measurable rain days in the Wilmington Airport record, which begins in 1931.
Through Oct 3, 2026, the GHCN-Daily station record shows 36.32 inches of measurable rain so far this year, falling over a 89-day span. Station observations are from GHCN-Daily, with a 1-3 day lag and quality checks by NOAA.
Wilmington rainfall by month, 2026
| Month | Rainfall | Normal | vs normal |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.88 inches | 3.23 inches | -0.35 inches (-11%) |
| February | 1.99 inches | 2.83 inches | -0.84 inches (-30%) |
| March | 2.22 inches | 4.16 inches | -1.94 inches (-47%) |
| April | 2.53 inches | 3.51 inches | -0.98 inches (-28%) |
| May | 3.33 inches | 3.57 inches | -0.24 inches (-7%) |
| June | 3.35 inches | 4.67 inches | -1.32 inches (-28%) |
| July | 8.32 inches | 4.41 inches | +3.91 inches (+89%) |
| August | 5.82 inches | 3.98 inches | +1.84 inches (+46%) |
| September | 5.73 inches | 4.38 inches | +1.35 inches (+31%) |
| October | 0.15 inches | 3.68 inches |
October is still in progress; figures run through Oct 3, 2026. Averages are 1991-2020 normals from NCEI.
Rainfall days at each threshold in Wilmington
| Year | 0.5+ in. | 1+ in. | 2+ in. | 3+ in. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 32 | 12 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 26 | 13 | 3 | 1 |
| 2023 | 33 | 16 | 5 | 2 |
| 2022 | 26 | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 22 | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | 38 | 12 | 4 | 1 |
| 2019 | 32 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| 2017 | 23 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 31 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Average | 29.2 | 11.0 | 2.0 | 0.4 |
A day counts when its rainfall total meets or passes the column amount, from Wilmington Airport records in GHCN-Daily. Every complete year starting with 1931 counts toward the average, 78 years in total.
Past rainfall years in Wilmington
All-time rainfall records
| Wettest day | 8.29 inches | Sep 16, 1999 |
|---|---|---|
| Wettest year | 61.37 inches | 2018 |
| Driest year | 24.90 inches | 1965 |
| Average year | 43.07 inches | 78 complete years on record |
| Rain days a year | 119 | average, 0.01 inch or more |
| Record begins | 1931 | 29,628 daily readings |
Monthly rainfall normals
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inches | 3.23 | 2.83 | 4.16 | 3.51 | 3.57 | 4.67 | 4.41 | 3.98 | 4.38 | 3.68 | 3.06 | 3.85 | 45.33 |
Averages are 1991-2020 normals from NCEI.
The daily climate report is issued by the local National Weather Service forecast office and delivered to this page by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet of Iowa State University. Under 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright attaches to the government-produced figures on this page, including reports, alerts, station observations, and normals, which were created by the National Weather Service and other NOAA offices. The notice that 17 U.S.C. 403 requires appears in this sentence. It does not imply endorsement by or affiliation with those agencies. See: Data sources and attribution.