Sydney has just broken a monthly rainfall record for the second time this year, continuing the city’s prolific run of wet weather in 2022.

Sydney’s main rain gauge at Observatory Hill, located next to the Harbour Bridge, collected a whopping 404.0 mm of rain during July. This is more than four times its long-term monthly average and the highest July total in records dating back to 1858, beating 336.1 mm from 1950.

Sydney has now registered two record wet months in 2022, with July’s 404.0 mm and March’s 554.0 mm both unrivalled in more than 160 years of observations at the site.

The city’s cumulative rainfall between January and July was also record-breaking, with 1951.4 mm falling in the first seven months of 2022 to beat the previous record of 1773.8 mm for the same period in 1890.

Despite only being seven months into the year, 2022 is already Sydney’s 6th wettest year on record, with yearly rainfall data available back to 1859.

Sydney only needs to collect another 242.5 mm of rain between August and December to make this its wettest year on record. This seems achievable, given the long-term average during this five-month period is 385.9 mm and forecast models predict a high chance of above-average rain in the coming months.