Although September is usually the wettest month of the year, this has not been the case this year in the Rio Grande Valley.
With September coming to an end on Thursday, the Brownsville area has only received 2.26 inches of rain this month, Harlingen 1.19 inches and McAllen 1.97 inches, said Mike Castillo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville.
Brownsville’s average rainfall amount for the month of September is 5.48 inches, Harlingen’s is 4.9 inches and McAllen’s is 4.35 inches, Castillo said.
In 2016, Brownsville had an average 1.98 inches of rain and 4.64 inches in 2017; in 2016 Harlingen had an average of 2.49 inches of rain and 1.94 inches in 2017. McAllen’s 2016 average was 1.69 inches of rain and in 2017 they had 2.44 inches of rain. All rainfall amounts are for the month of September.
“There have been some years where we have gotten a lot of rain and then there have been some years where we have gotten some rain and not as much as the average.”
In September 2018 close to 8 inches of rain was recorded while in 2016 there was just under 2 inches reported.
And while we might not receive that amount of rain over the next few days as rain is in the forecast, the Valley could experience some decent rain beginning on Thursday continuing into early next week.
There’s a 40 to 50% chance of showers Thursday and that will increase to about 60% on Friday and Saturday. There’s a higher chance of rain for Sunday at 70%.
A low pressure in the middle layers of the atmosphere and an upper level jet system moving across the portions of the state will determine exactly how much rain the Valley will get.
Although the Valley is looking at receiving “good rain chances,” the challenge will be as to where and how much rain will fall, Castillo said, adding not everyone could experience rain where they live every day over the next several days, they will get rain at least one of the day’s. “It may not be a lot but they will get some rain.”
The last time the Valley received a decent amount of rains was back in early July when several inches of rain were recorded. “That was probably the most significant rainfall we had in a while.”
“At this point we are not expecting heavy rainfall, at least not flash flooding, but there’s always the potential for brief heavy rainfall with thunderstorms that may move into the Valley through the week into the weekend,” Castillo said.
The temperatures will also drop about two degrees because of the rain and it will not be as hot as it has been. The temperatures will be about near normal. “We are not expecting any cooler temperatures,” he said.
