A small tropical disturbance that developed suddenly off the coast and pushed into South Texas over the weekend has brought some minor drought relief.
The National Weather Service reports that during a 48-hour period — ending at 7 a.m. Monday — most of the San Antonio area received around half-an-inch of rain. It's not a drought buster by any means, but it is welcomed in a city with a rainfall deficit for the year that was pushing 14 inches.
Residents have seen a record hot and dry summer and can only water yards with automatic sprinklers once a week or every other week, depending on the city, due to water restrictions. Front yards across San Antonio are noticeably brown and yellow.
The 10-day average of the Edwards Aquifer level has dipped to a little above 631 feet. Stage four water restrictions are trigged for many pumpers if that 10-day average drops another foot.
Light shower activity for San Antonio is expected to taper-off before rush hour on Monday but slick streets will likely remain for the drive home. Higher amounts fell to the far south and southeast of San Antonio late this weekend and through Monday.
Some minor street flooding was reported in the Corpus Christi area on Monday morning. The coastal city is also under water restrictions as the Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi were only 34% and 43% full respectively.
Medina Lake west of San Antonio started the week only 9% full. Some area rivers, such as the Frio, have seen zero flow rates in recent weeks. The release from Canyon Lake onto the Guadalupe River was at 108 cubic feet per second on Monday. Idea tubing conditions on the river are considered to be around 250 to 350 CFS.
The tropical activity is expected to push to the west over the mountains of northern Mexico through Tuesday. Another 1 to 3 inches could fall far west of San Antonio and along the Rio Grande during that period. Some flooding was also reported along the border on Monday.
The rain and cloud cover dropped temperatures into the 80s for much of South Texas. Some parts of the Hill Country could see early Tuesday morning lows around 70.
Moderate rain chances return on Thursday with shower activity tapering off into the weekend.
