HOUSTON (AP) — Persistent rain in Texas has made August 2016 the wettest August in more than a century and equal to the rainiest August ever.
Preliminary figures from the State Climatologist office at Texas A&M University show Texas received an average 5.69 inches of rain statewide. That’s the same amount measured in 1914, the present record holder for the month based on records that go back to 1895.
State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon credits the rainfall to an atmospheric wind pattern that pumped lots of deep, moist tropical air into Texas, with heaviest rainfall mainly in east, central and southeast parts of the state.
He says it could stay wet for the next couple of months, since September and October historically are the wettest months of the year in Texas.