In 2024, Earth received about 2.9 millimetres of rain per day. That may not sound like much, but it could represent a new record amount of precipitation for the planet.

Last year’s global average precipitation was about 3 per cent greater than the average since records began in 1983, and it just surpasses the previous record, set in 1998. The 2.9-millimetre number, based on preliminary data compiled by researchers at the Global Precipitation Climatology Project, may still change slightly as the data is finalised. But if it holds, it…