There are still five months left in the year, but Wilmington has almost seen its average annual rainfall for 2018. The average rainfall for an entire year in the Port City is 57.61 inches. As of the end of the day Tuesday, the Wilmington International Airport has now measured 57.14 inches in 2018.

• Read: Nursery farmers and landscapers delayed by rain
• Read: Constant rain causes Wilmington family to evacuate
• Interactive radar

Just over 17 inches of that rain fell in July making last month the fourth wettest July on record for Wilmington. That is a pretty remarkable number especially considering the area did not see rainfall from a tropical system in July 2018. According to information from the National Weather Service, the two wettest Julys were in 1886 and 1946. In both of those years, a tropical system impacted the region during the month of July.

Year to date, this is still the wettest year on record for Wilmington. That is also the case farther up the coast at the Outer Banks. Hatteras has now seen just over 55 inches of rain this year.  

For the rest of this week, the heaviest rain across North Carolina will shift to the western half of the state. Up to six or seven inches could fall near the mountains.

That does not mean eastern North Carolina will be completely dry though. 

Look for spotty early morning showers near the coast and a few afternoon thunderstorms inland from the coast each day through at least the first half of the upcoming weekend.