The much-anticipated USA vs. Germany World Cup match has so far been a wet one as players trudged through a torrential downpour during the first half.
Recife, the match's host city, is located in the northeastern most portion of Brazil, only about 190 miles south of Natal. It has recorded three-quarters of an inch of rain in the past three hours, with the 24-hour rainfall total nudging past four inches.
The culprit is a flow of moisture-rich air off the ocean, and Brazil's meteorological service as well as international centers had flagged that part of Brazil, as well as the southeast, as having a likelihood of above average rainfall this summer.
Recife is one of the wettest parts of Brazil, but this event is still noteworthy for high rainfall totals in such a short period of time. The Recife Airport station recorded about 3.7 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.
The downpours have been highly localized and confined to the coastline, with inland areas seeing little to no rain at all.
Rainfall in Recife, Brazil very much a coastal event as inland Brazil is dry. 24-hr forecast from 12z Wed: pic.twitter.com/YoYH7CZs7u
— Ryan N. Maue (@RyanMaue) June 26, 2014
I generated past 36 hour total rainfall #worldcup US vs Germany site (Recife, Brazil) via @NASA TRMM satellite-based pic.twitter.com/GZ7IekQFfb— Marshall Shepherd (@DrShepherd2013) June 26, 2014
Fans of both teams who are headed to the noon ET match are struggling to reach the stadium, with some roads nearly impassable due to what looks to be foot-deep water, but the game pressed on.
— Natalie Morales (@NMoralesNBC) June 26, 2014
Many people are sharing photos and videos of their epic march to the match on Instagram. You can see some of the footage in the interactive map, embedded below. Keep scrolling to see all the tweets and photos from Recife, Brazil.