I’m in London, where according to the Guardian we’re supposed to get half a month’s rain today.
Sounds scary, doesn’t it? That makes it sound like it’s going to rain fifteen times what it does on a typical rainy day; of course it means that we’re supposed to get fifteen times what London gets on a typical day, including the days when it doesn’t rain.
And in fact the forecast calls for only an inch. (Is that a lot for a single event here? I don’t know – my usual sources for weather data are US-centric.) Certainly a lot, but not apocalyptic.
And since rain usually comes in storms, it stands to reason that the single biggest rain event in any given month would be a large portion of the rain for the whole month. I’d wager that in a typical month, the biggest rain event is at least a quarter of the total rain for the month.
(Incidentally, there are bookmakers everywhere here. Can I actually bet on the weather?)