Rain chances greatly diminish between now and the middle of next week for the region.
Tropical disturbances, like the ones that have brought San Antonio and the Hill Country these recent rains, have been on the rise, so there is hope for more relief from the Gulf of Mexico soon.
Beneficial rains have driven up the aquifer by nearly five feet to 635 feet since Aug. 10.
The National Weather Service reports during a seven-day period ending at 7 a.m. Thursday, most of the San Antonio area had received two inches of rain.
Only half an inch has fallen around New Braunfels during the same time period, while Rocksprings recorded around 3 inches. Pearsall saw two inches and Kerrville a little more than an inch.
Despite the rain, the city's official rainfall total at San Antonio International Airport remains about 13 inches below average for the year.
Even with this week's rain, the U.S. Drought Monitor reports all of Bexar County is under the worst drought category possible, "exceptional."
So is all of Bandera, Blanco, Comal, Guadalupe, and Kendall Counties. Exceptional drought conditions also continue for northern Atascosa and much of Medina and Wilson Counties.
San Antonio residents may only water lawns once a week with automatic sprinklers based on street address under Stage 2 restrictions. The San Antonio Water System has cut back pumping from the Edwards Aquifer as required by the Edwards Aquifer Authority, but has switched to alternative water sources to make up the difference.
Other area cities have not been as fortunate and are following Stage 3 restrictions by allowing residents to only water by automatic sprinklers every other week.
This week's rain also brought some badly needed temperature relief for San Antonians who sweated through the hottest July ever.
2022 will likely go down as the hottest year ever for San Antonio since record keeping began by the National Weather Service in 1885.
Forecaster Andrew Quigley said there were 59 days of 100-degree days or higher in San Antonio in 2009, the hottest ever year. There have been 58 such days in San Antonio in 2022, 29 of them recorded in July and 17 more in July.
