Those rain dances finally worked! After nearly two months of heat and drought, the weather pattern changed in August, permitting multi-inch rains to pour down on us for two days.
A record 9.19” of rain fell at DFW Airport during the 24-hour period from 3 p.m. on Aug. 14 through 3 p.m. Aug. 15. Some areas in East Dallas recorded over 15” of the wet stuff. The catastrophic flooding caused billions in damage, forced hundreds of dangerous high-water rescues and resulted in at least one fatality.
A combination of weak, cool northwest flow aloft, a stalled frontal boundary and Gulf moisture conspired to produce the second highest 24-hour rainfall total on record. The all-time record is still 9.57” recorded over September 4-5 in 1932.
The fact that a 100-year flood resulted in one fatality is remarkable, but sad and we should learn the lesson: Surely 99.9% of us could’ve stayed home and stayed off the roadways Sunday night and Monday morning when the heaviest rain was falling. What’s more important than your life?
Let’s get to the numbers. DFW went 67 days without measurable rainfall during July and August. It was our second longest rain-free drought on record. During the first two weeks of August, only 5 days failed to reach 100 degrees. We set no new record highs, but several warm record lows of 82-84 degrees.
Rainfall in Denton was not as impressive as elsewhere. Denton Enterprise picked up only 2.46” of rain although some areas of Denton County picked up substantially more.
Our average high for the month was 96.8, compared to the climate normal of 96.1. Our average low was 76, compared to the norm of 73 degrees. Combining the day/night average, our average temperature for the month was 86.4, two degrees warmer than our climatological normal temperature of 84.5.
Rainfall for the month (through 8/27) was 3.11” which well above the August average of 1.88.” Adding to the running total of 12.05” by July, Denton Enterprise has recorded 15.16” of rain so far this year.
Although our La Nina (cooler Pacific temperatures) remains in effect, the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a gradual weakening as we move into the fall and winter months, which would give us more rain and cooler temperatures, pretty much as we expect during the fall months.
The one fly in the ointment is the Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico tropical weather season which has yet to materialize, despite exceptionally warm water temperatures. Just a hunch, but we should prepare to see something “tropical” showing up in Texas the first part of this month.
Meteorological summer is over! Here’s how the summer of 2022 stacked up. It was a hot summer. And, as weird as it sounds, it will go down as a dry summer and a wet summer? The 2nd longest dry streak on record broke in August in a big way. Take a look at the numbers. #wfaaweather pic.twitter.com/JAEheqJsbQ
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) September 1, 2022
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