“Not just breaking a record .... smashing it.” Lexington’s 2018 rain total is new extreme.

The wettest year on record for Lexington — by far — is 2018.

Lexington broke the record on Dec. 1, when the city hit 66.97 inches of precipitation, the most since weather records began being recorded in 1872. By early New Year’s Eve, the total was 70.62 inches, with perhaps as much as another two inches possible by the time the clock rolls over to 2019.

The annual total is more than 20 inches higher than last year.

The previous high was 66.35 inches in 2011. Since 2011, Lexington has had four of the top 10 wettest years on record, according to WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey. Bailey said the New Year’s Eve morning rain put the total a little over 71 inches.

“That’s not just breaking a record, that’s smashing it over and over and over with a hammer,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that in recent years “we’re losing two seasons, we’re losing fall and spring.”

Louisville and Frankfort also broke rainfall records, according to the National Weather Service: Louisville hit 68.05 inches this morning, breaking the previous record of 68.02 inches in 2011. Frankfort, with 67.40 inches, also broke its previous record of 65.58 inches, also set in 2011.

“It would be tough for anyone to argue that our climate in Kentucky has not changed,” Bailey said. “Whether or not this is a long-term change, no one can say just yet. ... We are seeing many more extremes than we had before. I’ll let others argue as to why they think that is the case.”

The consequences range from soggy yards to hazardous flooding. A Honda Civic hydroplaned into a pool of water at Winchester Road and Polo Club Boulevard around 8 a.m. Monday, according to Lt. Chris Van Brackel of the Lexington police. The male driver got out safely, but the vehicle remained in the water hours later because the tow truck driver could not pull it out.

“The water level is so high the tow truck driver just said, ‘I can’t even try,’” Van Brackel said.

That 70-plus inch total gives Lexington an edge over several of the most rainy cities on average in the United States — such as New Orleans (62.7 inches) and Miami (61.9 inches) — but is nowhere close to Aberdeen Reservoir in Washington state, which gets 130.6 inches of annual precipitation, according to the National Weather Service.

More than a half-inch of rain fell in Lexington between 6:54 a.m. and 9:54 a.m. on Monday morning, according to the weather service. Normal rainfall for the year is 45.06 inches, according to the weather service. Rainfall in 2017 was 49.16 inches.

Showers will continue for the rest of New Year’s Eve, Bailey said, with more rain expected toward the end of the week.

This story was originally published December 31, 2018 at 1:33 PM.