More rain fell last Saturday than on any January 16 in the books, forecasters have revealed .

The daily rainfall record saw 2.48in of rain descend on the island in 24 hours – 2.39in of it in the four hours from 8pm to midnight.

Gary Hall, a meteorologist and the duty forecaster at the Bermuda Weather Service, said that prolonged periods of such heavy rain were rare.

He added: “The rain sure did come down...”

Mr Hall said: “That is obviously a lot and does not happen often, though it has with a persistent summer thunderstorms or other strong winter low pressure systems in the past.

“One that comes to mind is 5.34 inches of rainfall that fell in a 24 hour period back on January 5, 2017, so clearly we were not close to an all time record.”

Mr Hall said Bermuda had notched up 5.19in of rainfall for the month - well above average.

He added: “With more frontal systems seen on the immediate horizon these totals shall likely continue to rise.

“However, the next couple of fronts will be entering from the northwest and carry less moisture than the previous system.”

But Mr Hall warned that colder temperatures and high winds were expected.