This is the time of the year when we can have high precipitation rates as a warmer lower atmosphere can hold more water vapor and less cloud ice induction increases the efficiency of precipitation.
Storms also move less quickly, which helps to isolate precipitation totals further.
As an example, a brief and very intense rainfall event was captured by the Mason City Airport weather station on July 4th.
Over just a 10 minute span on that day between 5-5:10pm, 1-point-16 inches of rain fell.
This rate was not sustained over a period of one hour for a single location, because if it would have, up to 6-point-5 inches of rain could have fallen.
