Published: July 02, 2008 10:22 am      

The vanishing Blanco River

San Marcos — Perhaps Hays County Fire Marshal Carroll Czichos summed it up best last week.

Speaking of the ongoing drought and restrictions on fireworks use, Czichos noted that in two years ago, someone could walk across the Blanco River without getting their feet wet. In the same spot last year, they couldn’t have driven a vehicle across the raging stream.

So far, 2008 is looking a lot like 2006.

The deepening drought, and drying up of the Blanco, is happening by degrees. San Marcos has fallen far short of what the National Weather Service calls “average” rainfall in all but one month for the first half of the year, according to records kept by local NWS observer Steve Sands.

• January: NWS average is 2.05 inches; actual rainfall was .98 inches for a monthly deficit of 1.07 inches

• February: NWS average is 2:21 inches; actual rainfall was .38 inches, for a running deficit of 2.90

• March: NWS average is 2.09 inches; actual rainfall was 3.56 inches, narrowing the deficit to 1.43 inches

• April: NWS average is 2.85 inches; actual rainfall was 2.15 inches, for a deficit of 2.13 inches

• May: NWS average is 5.31 inches; actual rainfall was 1.22 inches, for a deficit of 6.22 inches

• June: NWS average 4.84 inches; actual rainfall was .37 inches, for a deficit of 10.69 inches.

So far this month, the smattering San Marcos received on Monday measured .30 inches, but as Sands noted, it wasn’t and no actual rain hit his gauge at the San Marcos Water Treatment Plant.

on River Road.