HARLINGEN – A muscular low-pressure system hurtled northward from Mexico, dropping a record 1.13 inches of rain on the city Wednesday and early Thursday morning.
That was the first significant rainfall here since the turn of the year.
The 1.13 inches of rain recorded at Valley International Airport tops the mark of 1.11 inches set exactly a year ago.
That was the official mark, although it seemed other areas of the city received more rain.
The last measurable rainfall in Harlingen was Jan. 2-3 when 1.18 inches of rain fell.
All of this wet-weather action was the result of an unusual pattern that drew heavy moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico and into South Texas, says Geoff Bogorad, senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Brownsville.
“This one just kind of broke away from the west-to-east flow that dominates, the westerlies as we call them … and drove that low farther south,” Bogorad said.
“It kind of broke away from the westerlies, and was very slow-moving, and that’s why we call it a ‘cutoff-low.’
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