Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Looking at the hydrologic data of the Lower Colorado River Authority’s river operations center at this time of the morning, you can see that Central Texas has had precious little so far of the rain we were promised through tonight–only about a quarter of an inch at one gauge on the Llano River, the same on the San Saba, with almost a third of an inch on the Cherokee but not even a tenth of an inch so far on the Pedernales River. These are readings from automated gauges northwest of Austin in the Colorado River watershed, one of the best ways of gathering intelligence about how a rain event is shaping up. You have to choose a display at the link and "rainfall–since midnight" is the best in this situation. National Weather Service says severe storms possible as the day wears on, so may have shut down the ‘puter at the Rancho off and on. But when you’re in the midst of a bad drought, that’s not much of an annoyance.

UPDATE  At 1 p.m., meteorologist Troy Kimmel says we’re under a tornado watch until 8 p.m. Then it was extended until 2 a.m. But, by midnight, 2 inches seemed to be the highest total rain for the Austin area. Not much, really, but we’ll take it.