It's official for 1996: The 12-state Northeast was sopping, soggy, soaked and sodden as the region sloshed its way to the wettest year in more than a century -- 102 years of official records -- with 53.89 inches of precipitation. This easily broke the old record set in 1972 by 2.55 inches, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia -- half the 12-state region -- all set precipitation records. Maine and Rhode Island stood out as the two most-relatively dry states in the region for 1996: Rhode Island endured its ninth wettest year, and Maine endured its 12th wettest year.

Massachusetts, which normally gets 45.39 inches of precipitation in any given year, measured a whopping 60.98 inches to break a 13-year-old record, according to Keith Eggleston, regional climatologist at the Cornell-based center.

New Hampshire broke a 42-year-old record, while Pennsylvania and West Virginia each broke the precipitation records set 24 years ago -- 1972 -- when Hurricane Agnes shimmied along the Atlantic seaboard; it was the predominant weather event that year, and dumped extraordinary amounts of rain.

Despite being the wettest year on record, the Northeast set only one monthly precipitation record: July, when more than 6.5 inches of rain soaked the region, compared with a normal of 3.92 inches. For the Northeast: January was the fourth wettest; April and September were the sixth wettest; and December was the seventh wettest on record.

The Northeast got a reprieve in August, when only 2.81 inches of rain fell, compared with an average of 3.89 inches, making it the ninth driest August ever, according to Jeff Schultz, also a climatologist at the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

State	         1996 Total Rank     Normal	Record	   Year of
                                     Precip	Precip	   Amount	  
                (1=wettest)					

Connecticut        59.83     4        47.21     64.00     1983
Delaware           58.93     3        43.62     62.06     1948
Maine              49.93    12        41.21     58.35     1900
Maryland           58.44     1        42.76     57.79     1979
Massachusetts      60.98     1        45.39     59.78     1983
New Hampshire      54.39     1        41.88     54.38     1954
New Jersey         58.12     3        45.32     58.83     1975
New York           50.65     1        40.20     50.19     1977
Pennsylvania       54.70     1        41.39     51.81     1972
Rhode Island       53.32     9        46.20     63.71     1972
Vermont            49.69     5        40.13     57.01     1897
West Virginia      58.22     1        43.81     54.41     1972
Northeast Region   53.89     1        41.90     51.34     1972

All precipitation amounts are in inches. There are 102 years of record: 1895 through 1996. Normal is the average for the 30-year period 1961-1990