NYC’s JFK Airport slammed with 8 inches of rain Friday, setting new daily record

JFK Airport was walloped with 7.97 inches of rain on Friday — a new daily record dating back to 1948, when data was first collected, according to Fox Weather. Since the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Ophelia returned to the tri-state area Thursday night, the Queens airport has received a total of 8.48 inches of rain, the National Weather Service said.

Before Friday, the wettest day on record at JFK was on Aug. 14, 2011, when 7.80 inches of rain fell. Since Thursday, the Big Apple’s other airport, LaGuardia, saw 4.87 inches, while Newark saw 1.77 inches, according to the NWS.

In the same period of time, Central Park saw 5.85 inches, while Midtown Manhattan was drenched in 6.16 inches. Officials encouraged New Yorkers to stay home and avoid traveling Friday amid the torrential, seemingly never-ending downpour that flooded the subway system and turned streets into rivers.

Valley Stream in Nassau County recorded the most rainfall, clocking in 9.12 inches, according to Fox Weather.

Luckily for drenched New Yorkers and those in the tri-state area, the heavy rainfall is expected to clear up by Saturday evening, with less than a fourth-of-an-inch to fall by the afternoon.

Sunday will finally bring some nice weather to break up the endless gray with the forecast bringing sunny conditions and temperatures in the mid-70s for an end-of-weekend pick-me-up.

The motto “New York Tough” was on strong display today as city-goers battled the intense storm during morning rush hour.Cellphone footage taken aboard a city bus at 18th Avenue and 60th Street in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood showed floodwaters gushing into the vehicle filled with passengers, among them children, who tried to stay dry by lifting their feet off the floor.

The Big Apple’s major roads fared no better, as the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway, the Belt Parkway, and Prospect Park Expressway all turned into rivers teeming with partially flooded cars trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Brooklyn and Queens have been hit the hardest by the storm, said meteorologist Brian Mastro, with Fox Weather.The storm also drenched parts of the city’s subway system, turning a staircase at the Grand Army Plaza station on the 2/3 line in Brooklyn into a waterfall, as seen in a bystander’s dramatic cellphone video.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority begged commuters to stay home if possible.

Virtually every subway line was at least partly suspended, rerouted, or operating with major delays — and two of the Metro-North Railroad’s three lines were not running.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island in response to the flooding.

Separately, Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency for the five boroughs and urged New Yorkers to stay home, or shelter in place at work or in school.

“This is a dangerous condition and it’s not over,” he said. Some New Yorkers have even gone as far as blaming the full moon for the dangerous drench and residents’ brazen behavior.

Some city-goers took to the streets to swim, dance, and walk their dogs and enjoying the wet conditions in other outlandish ways.

One man was even filmed busting a groove in a banana costume in the knee-deep waters as another person filmed him and onlookers passed by.