The midtown skyline stands in the background in Piedmont Park in Atlanta.

The midtown skyline stands in the background in Piedmont Park in Atlanta.

If you look outside and feel like it’s been raining forever, you aren’t far off. Across the state, counties and cities tracked record rainfall in 2018.  

Athens experienced its wettest year in more than two decades, according to the National Weather Service. And metro Atlanta recorded a total of 70.03 inches of rainfall in 2018, securing its place as the second wettest year on record.

The No. 1 year for rainfall in Atlanta remains 1948, when 71.45 inches of rain soaked the city.

RELATED: 2018 Rainfall: Second Wettest Year On Record For Atlanta

Last year, 62.26 inches of rain fell in Athens, which is the most the area has seen since in 22 years. The 30-year annual average is 46.33 inches.

Macon went through a rainy year as well with a total of 49.06 inches in 2018. Although only slightly higher than the annual average of 45.72 inches, it did mark the fifth wettest year for the city since 1996.

Neighboring states also experienced an abundance of downpours. A federal utility serving parts of seven southeastern states said that with 67.1 inches 2018 was the record wettest year in the Tennessee Valley, according to the Associated Press.

NWS reported the fifth wettest year to date on record for the entire United States through November 2018.

And the end of wet weather isn’t coming this week.

Georgians can expect to keep their umbrellas out for the beginning of the new year as a flash flood watch takes effect at 7 p.m. Thursday for Macon and neighboring areas. Additional flash flood watches continue for North Georgia and much of central Georgia through Friday morning.

Northeastern portions of the state may receive up to 2.5 inches of rain.

Tags: rain  Georgia weather  Atlanta  Georgia  Macon  Savannah