Heavier than expected rainfall Tuesday night into Wednesday over the Rio Grande Valley knocked down the region’s drought category a whole level, from “moderate to exceptional” to “abnormally dry to moderate.”

The precipitation isn’t reflected in today’s (May 13) updated U.S. Drought Monitor report, since the cut-off date for this week’s report was May 11, though it will be reflected in next Thursday’s update.

That’s according to Mike Castillo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Brownsville/Rio Grande Valley forecast station. NWS had predicted half an inch to one inch of rain for Brownsville May 11-12, though volunteer observers reported one to three inches in various locations. San Benito and Harlingen had reports of three inches of rain, while one La Feria observer reported a whopping four inches, Castillo said.

The heaviest rains fell in west-northwest Cameron County, southeast Hidalgo County and farther up the Valley in Starr and Zapata counties, he said.

A view of an inundated Brownsville crop field after receiving torrential rain during the early morning hours Wednesday. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

“It was welcome rainfall not just for Brownsville but for the Rio Grande Valley and the ranch lands, because we have worse drought conditions up across the upper Valley,” Castillo said. “Any rainfall will help with the drought conditions overall. Obviously the rains we got last night that helps tremendously.”

Wind was abundant, with gusts of 40 to 50 mph in Cameron County and 50 to 60 mph in Hidalgo County, he said. While the rain was welcome, there were reports of wind damage in portions of the Valley, Castillo said. As of Wednesday afternoon the heavy rains had moved through and the outlook through today (May 13) was “pretty isolated as far as rain chances,” Castillo said.

“Depending on where the front ends up across the area, that’s going to be a focus for some rain chances tonight (Wednesday), and tomorrow (Thursday,) but not anything heavy,” he said. “We are expecting a better chance of rain for Saturday because we’re expecting a storm system to be moving across the area Friday night into Saturday. … That’s going to give us another round of showers and thunderstorms.”

Ducks are seen in standing water after Brownsville received much needed rain in the early morning hours on Wednesday. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

As for how the summer will shape up in terms of heat and drought, Castillo said it all depends on the tropics. Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration won’t issue its official outlook until later this month, early predictions point to a potentially busy hurricane season.

“Last year we had Hanna,” Castillo said. “That produced flooding all over the area. Depending on what type of rainfall we get with tropical systems, that’s probably the biggest influence on the drought going into the summer. If we get a pretty active season and we get at least a tropical storm that would definitely help with drought conditions over the area.”


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