Published: August 06, 2008 10:57 am      

Wet, but not very

Edouardo dashes local rain hopes

San Marcos — Some held high hopes here as Tropical Storm Edouardo neared that it would deliver some much-needed rainfall — since the only significant rain in months had come two weeks ago from Hurricane Dolly.

In the end it was indeed improbable and those hopes had fallen flat. Rain bands from the deteriorating system that made landfall Tuesday morning near High Island mostly spattered San Marcos at a time when the area desperately needs soaking rain.

Though there were localized heavier showers, only .05 inches of rainfall was recorded at San Marcos Municipal Airport and .06 inches at the city's wastewater treatment plant.

That leaves the city more than 10 inches short in average rainfall. According to local National Weather Service observer Steve Sands, San Marcos received 11.44 inches of rain between Jan. 1 and July 31 of this year — some 10.14 inches short of the NWS average of 21.27 inches during the first seven months of the year.

Only in two months this year did rainfall exceed the NWS average. Two rain events in July — 1.02 inches on the 9th and 10th and (from Dolly) 1.19 inches on the 23rd and 24th, pushed the monthly total to 2.67 inches, compared to an NWS average of 2.12 inches. Back in March, 3.56 inches of rainfall bested the average of 2.09 inches.

San Marcos’ average annual rainfall is 37.19 inches and with the exception of July and March, the drought worsened each month. January brought only .98 inches, compared to an average of 2.05; February, .38 inches compared to an average 2.21; April, 2.15 actual compared to 2.85 average; May, 1.22 actual compared to 5.31 average and June, .37 compared to 4.84 average.

The average for August is 2.65 inches; for September, 3.46 inches; October, 4.03 inches; November, 3.17 inches; and December, 2.41 inches.