AUSTIN, Texas — It's no secret that Central Texas had a well above-average July when it came to precipitation this year.
Both main reporting sites, Camp Mabry and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, recorded well over their respective average rainfall of 1.96 inches and 2.16 inches, respectively.
The airport had a rogue heavy rain cell on July 6 that resulted in the site recording 2.23 more inches of rain than Camp Mabry for the month.
However, the heavy rains seen by the airport on that day paled in comparison to what the main reporting sites had 45 years ago in July.
On July 19, 1979, a system containing heavy rain not related to a tropical system resulted in Camp Mabry recording nearly 5 inches of rain. The Mueller Airport recorded nearly 2.5 inches from that same system.
From July 24 to 28, Tropical Storm Claudette reached the Lone Star State by making landfall near Sabine Pass with maximum sustained winds at around 50 mph. This, as well as the lack of a steering current due to two areas of high pressure surrounding it, caused some portions of Texas to receive historic rainfall totals.
Claudette produced totals not seen again until Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Southeast Texas community of Alvin still holds the Continental U.S. record of 42 inches of rain in 24 hours because of Claudette.
As for the Austin area, the heaviest rains associated with Claudette arrived on July 27 as the system, already downgraded to a tropical depression, tracked over the Brazos Valley and into the Piney Woods of East Texas. Camp Mabry recorded 3.28 inches of rain from the storm, while the Mueller Airport wasn't too far behind at 3.11 inches.
These two systems resulted in the wettest July on record at the airport, with 9.77 inches of rain, and the third-wettest July on record at Camp Mabry, with 10.54 inches.
While we don't expect nearly as much rainfall this August, all it takes is one system to change all of that, especially if we have a situation like Claudette.
