5 day rain totals 2-4 inches in many areas, isolated 10″
July 11th, 2012 at 11:00 pm by Jim Spencer under Weather
Five days and counting. That’s how long rain has been falling across parts of Central Texas, thanks to a stubborn upper level low pressure system stretching from Louisiana into south-central Texas. The low, combined with a rare July cold front and rich tropical moisture, has produced measurable rain in Austin for four straight days, something that hasn’t happened in July since 2007.
Another 1-2 inches fell in parts of the Austin metro area Wednesday. 1.17 inches was measured in Jollyville, but 2.4 inches fell in Manchaca. Beaukiss, in eastern Williamson County recorded 3.25 inches of rain. 2 inches fell in San Marcos and Lockhart.
In the graphic below, the blue shades represent rain totals of less than 2″. The darkest blue indicates less than .20″. The lightest green represents up to 2″ of rain, and the darkest green shades indicate totals up to 5 inches. The pink areas represent totals of 6-10″ of rain.
Rainfall totals: Sunday through Wednesday
Five day rainfall totals include the 8-10 inches that fell near Webberville, but also many 3-4 inch totals in Bastrop, Hays, Travis, Williamson, Blanco, Llano, and Mason counties. Lighter amounts, yet beneficial rain has fallen elsewhere. Officially, Camp Mabry has received 1.87 inches and ABIA, 1.48 inches, though those are tow of the lower totals in the Austin area.
The rain isn’t over yet either. The upper low will slide a little east Thursday and Friday, decreasing our rain chances, but scattered showers and thunderstorms are still expected over parts of the KXAN viewing area. Some additional 1-2 inch totals will be possible, with some 4-6 inch accumulations in very isolated locations. Indications are some rain will remain possible through the weekend, but chances should diminish significantly early next week.
One of the most welcome aspects of this rare, heavy July rainfall is the impact on our temperatures. Afternoon highs only warmed to 88 degrees at Camp Mabry and 86 degrees at ABIA Wednesday. Highs have only reached 100 or above eight times this summer. A year ago, the high was 102, and July 12th became the 29th triple digit day—on the way to an all-time record of 90 days last summer.
Just as all politics is local, all precipitation is local. I’m very happy for the folks who received healthy rain totals. Here in northeast and east Austin, we barely got over half an inch. It is definietly welcome! But, it’ll be gone in 2 or 3 days of hot dry conditions. Considering that, before this rain event, we hadn’t gotten even a total of 0.25 since mid-May, I’ll wait to get excited when my house gets more than the few extended sprinkles that fell here over the last few days.
Can you publish a graphic of Total system rain fall, like a 7-day total accumulation?