Skies opened up in the Baton Rouge area on Saturday afternoon, and records poured down right through Sunday.

Most impressively, 8.60 inches of rain saturated the Baton Rouge area on Sunday, the fourth highest single day total on record. Such a total has about a 1-in-10 chance of happening any given year in the Baton Rouge area, making Sunday's storm a 10-year rain event.

Tailgaters and football fans from Houston to Baton Rouge experienced frequent showers on Saturday. Some fell heavily, amounting to 2.12" by the end of the day. That added up to a two-day total over 10". This number is more like a 25-year rain event.

Both days set individual daily rainfall records. The previous records for Oct. 24 and 25 of 1.42 inches and 4.44 inches respectively, also both fell on consecutive days in 1996.

 The preceding statistics were compiled from Ryan Field at Metro Airport which holds records dating back to 1930.

One other area gauge, Baptist, topped 10 inches of rain over the two-day stretch while many others such as Grangeville, Liverpool, Maurepas, Milldale and Zachary all exceeded 9 inches.

Several area rivers are swelling as a result, with typical spots along the Amite, Comite and Tickfaw all dealing with some minor flooding.

As you might imagine, the deluge put a major dent in the drought. Before this weekend the area was at a 90-day deficit of almost 9 inches and 6 inches shy of normal since Sept. 1. Those numbers have completely turned around with a more than 10-inch surplus on the year, a more than 1 inch surplus for the last 90 days and a nearly 5 inch surplus since September.

The extreme rain event was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Patricia and an upper level low pressure system that moved very slowly across the Gulf Coast.

The forecast is for gradual drying into mid-week.

Twitter: @Josh_Eachus | Facebook: Meteorologist Josh Eachus