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Over the past few months, one of the major stories we’ve been talking about here at AerisWeather has been the southern rain. Numerous records have been broken, and it brought an end (for the most part) to the drought that has been over the region. Above is a map of rainfall year-to-date, showing some areas with over 40″ of rain over the first seven (and change) months of this year. Let’s take a peak at some of the records that have been broken when it does come to rainfall in these areas.
Amarillo, TX
While the year started somewhat dry in the Amarillo area, they have received a lot of rain since May, including 9.29″ in May and 6.59″ in July. Records have been broken with the amount of rain they’ve seen the past few months, including:
- The wettest January though July on record with 25.03″ over the seven months. That broke the previous record of 23.83″ in 1960.
- 19.77″ fell during the three month period of May-July, marking it the wettest May-July on record. The previous wettest May-July was 1962 when 19.43″ fell.
Also, with 26.96″ of rain so far this year (through the 6th of August), they are already sitting at the 11th wettest year on record with 147 days to go! All they need is 0.02″ to tie the tenth wettest year on record set back in 1999. The wettest year on record was 1923 when 39.75″ fell in the city. Amarillo records go back to 1892.
Oklahoma City, OK
In Oklahoma City the year started out slow as well, but quickly ramped up heading into May with 19.48″ falling that month alone. This May was the wettest month ever in Oklahoma City history! They followed up the wet May with 5.77″ in June and 7.31″ in July. Here are some more record they’ve broken over the past few months:
- Over the January through July seven month period, 41.74″ of rain fell. That marks it as the wettest January-July on record, just barely beating out 2013 which saw 41.69″ fall during those seven months.
- This May-July was also the wettest May-July on record for Oklahoma City, with 32.56″ falling during the three month period. That broke the previous May-July record of 29.17″ in 2013. It also ranks as the wettest three month period (taking any three consecutive months together) on record.
Oklahoma City has already seen 42.31″ of rain during the year so far (once again, through August 6th). That would place them, if they received no more rain this year, as the 13th wettest year on record. To be able to break into the top ten, they would need to tie 1991 which saw 43.74″ of rain. The wettest year was back in 2007 when 56.95″ fell. Of note, the second wettest year was back in 2013 with 52.78 inches.
Dallas, TX
Dallas, TX also saw the influx of moisture as we worked into the month of May, with 16.96″ falling in the city, marking the wettest May on record. Since then, rain has been more sparce to find, with 3.95″ falling in June and only 0.92″ in July. However, they have come close to some other records over the period:
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- The January-July rainfall in Dallas was 36.50″, making it the third wettest such period on record.
- The 21.83″ seen between May and July was the second wettest May-July on record.
With 36.50″ of rain so far this year, they currently sit 36th on the list of wettest years on record. They would need a grand total of 45.27″ to pull into a tie for 10th. The wettest year was 53.54 inches of rain back in 1991.
Other Cities With Record Rainfall
According to the National Weather Service Office out of Amarillo, eight other cities in their forecast area are seeing their wettest year-to-dates so far. Those cities (with periods of record in parentheses) include:
- Guymon (1999)
- Borger (1949)
- Hereford (1937)
- Pampa (1965)
- Beaver (1945)
- Panhandle (1912)
- Perryton 21 South (1979)
- Shamrock (1965)
Southern Rain Forecast
It’s looking like a pretty dry weekend across much of the southern Plains, with little rain to be found. That’s great news if you have any outdoor activities, but not good news for the drought. Yes, we are already seeing drought creep back in to portions of the south which saw dry conditions in the month of July, and now continuing into August. The latest update from the National Drought Mitigation Center in the Drought Monitor showed 27.67% of the state of Texas abnormally dry and 4.61% of the state in moderate drought. Most of this is in the eastern part of the state, but both numbers are up this week from where they were last week.
The main story across the south this weekend is the excessive heat, which I wrote about yesterday.
(CHECK OUT YOUR FORECAST: wx.aerisweather.com)
– Meteorologist D.J. Kayser
