CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Rainfall in South Texas has been plentiful in 2021; the rainiest in 30 years. Thursday's rains brought several more inches to much of Corpus Christi and even more to parts of Bee, Refugio, and San Patricio Counties. This came courtesy the remnants of Hurricane Pamela, striking the Pacific coast of Mexico and moving through Texas.
The 2.28" received in Corpus Christi moved us from the 9th wettest year on record, to the 3rd wettest year all-time in Corpus Christi. A lot of this year's biggest rains have come front tropical set-ups, even though we have not taken a direct hit from any tropical system this year.
In early July, an upper level low move over South Texas from the north, sat there for a few days, and ended up becoming a tropical low pressure system resting over South Texas. That brought over 5" of rain on July 8; the rainiest day of 2021, to date.
There have been plenty of other rain episodes this year, including 3 of the top 10 rainiest days happening between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1. Here are the top 10 rainiest days of 2021, through October 14.
- July 8, 5.63"
- May 19, 4.44"
- October 1, 4.14"
- September 30, 2.41"
- September 19, 2.38"
- March 28, 2.32"
- October 14, 2.28"
- September 29 1.55"
- May 15, 1.48"
- May 1, 1.34"
Being within 3" of the all time record wettest year in Corpus Christi, the question becomes: will we get to number one this year? Well, if we look at rainfall averages for November and December, it would lead one to believe we will get there. Average rain in November is 2.03" and 1.93" in December.
2021 is at 45.38" and the all-time record is 48.16". If we get 'average' rainfall in November and December (not counting the rest of October), it would put 2021's rainfall total a little over 49"...a new all-time record. Stay tuned...
Holt out
