First 7 months of year were wettest on record for Texas

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - The first seven months of the year were the wettest on record in Texas, further confirmation of the recent declaration that the state is drought-free for the first time in at least a decade.

The statewide average through July was 27.11 inches, nearly 11 inches above the norm of 16.21 inches, National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy said Tuesday.

"When we broke the drought, we broke it with a bang," Murphy said.

The previous record for the first seven months was 25.88 inches in 1941.

July was the third-wettest since 1895, and the wettest since 1903. The month was also the coolest since 1976 and the fourth coolest in 113 years.

Things are changing, though.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area was supposed to hit 100 degrees for the first time this year Wednesday, Murphy said, and many other areas in Texas also could see their first triple-digit heat.

"Everyone's been cursing the rain, but when the rain shuts off, the heat's soon to follow," Murphy said.

Drier conditions could be on the way as well, Murphy said.

"Believe it or not, it looks like La Nina is starting to shape," he said. "The equatorial waters of the central Pacific Ocean have started to cool off the past couple of weeks, and that might be the precursor of the incoming La Nina event."

If those conditions develop this fall, it would probably mean dry conditions from October through March, Murphy said.

Meanwhile, a grass-roots effort across the state is expected to more accurately gather weather information. Troy Kimmel, who teaches weather and climate at the University of Texas, is the volunteer coordinator for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Networks, which began at Colorado State University in the late 1990s.

The group is made up of volunteer backyard weather observers working to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in urban and rural areas in as many as 19 states, according to the group's Web site.

Kimmel said the state has more than 300 volunteers.

"We hope that with shortage and importance of water in Texas that we get into the thousands" of volunteers, Kimmel said.

Volunteers enter their information daily on the Web site and share it with the National Weather Service, Kimmel said.

"It fills in a lot of (information) gaps in urban areas," Murphy said.

On the Net:

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Networks