LUBBOCK -- Debbie Davis kept her fingers crossed for months, hoping rains would finally bring life to pastures at her ranch near San Antonio this year.

As time passed and rainfall didn't materialize she was forced to send some of her Longhorns elsewhere to graze.

About three weeks ago, rain finally soaked at her 1,900-acre ranch.

"And it's greened up and looks real good," Davis said. "It was a little late but it did come."

Davis wasn't alone. Though final numbers for August were not tallied by Friday, last month will probably turn out to be the 10th wettest on record, said Victor Murphy of the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

Early in the month, tropical storm Edouard hit the upper Texas coast and its remnants rolled across Central Texas.

But the main culprit was an unusually strong nontropical upper-level low-pressure area which dropped south from North Dakota and parked itself over Texas on Aug. 15 and remained for a week, he said. All but Far West Texas got daily downpours.

"That one week was basically a statewide deluge," Murphy said.

Waco recorded its wettest August ever with 10.33 inches, 8.48 inches above it normal of 1.85 inches. On Aug. 18 and 19 Waco got 7.24 inches, the most ever in a 48-hour period.

Del Rio got 11.32 inches for the month, its second wettest on record, and McAllen had its third wettest August on record with 6.84 inches, 4.11 inches above its normal of 2.73 inches.

The top three wettest locations in the state were Baytown (13.30 inches), Orange (12.85 inches), and Tyler (11.53 inches).

"It was not wet everywhere in the state but where it was wet, it was very wet," said. John Nielsen-Gammon at Texas A&M University, the state climatologist.

That's quite a turnaround from the first half of 2008, when Texas experienced its 23rd driest first six months. The statewide average for January through June was 10.94 inches, 2.93 inches below the normal of 13.87.

In mid-July about 88 percent of the state was in some stage of drought, with about 4.4 percent in the most severe category -- exceptional, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. By late August, 6 percent of Texas faced exceptional drought.

This week, only about 57 percent had some drought designation and no areas were in exceptional drought.

"It's much better conditions than it has been statewide," said Travis Miller, a drought specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service. "That Dolly brought a lot of moisture all the way up to Corpus Christi."

And about a week ago, the western outer bands of Hurricane Gustav brought "another big dose" of rain, he said. This time East Texas was the beneficiary as Gustav moved south to north through the region.

A couple of areas around the state remain in extreme drought, however. In West Texas, Andrews and Martin counties were in the second most severe drought stage.

In Central Texas, all or parts of Burnett, Blanco, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Travis, Bastrop, Lee and Williamson counties also are in extreme drought. That's where most of the 113 public water systems (out of 4,668) in Texas with restrictions are located.

While ranches and lands gained moisture last month, the same cannot be said for lake levels around the state, said Barney Austin, director of surface water resources at the Texas Water Development Board.

Of the 109 lakes the Texas Water Development Board monitors, 42 were at least 90 percent full, according to the most recent monthly report. That compares with 83 in late May. Summertime temperatures contribute to evaporation.

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Posted by: On: 9/8/2008

Comment Title: Shocking!!!!
In other news, it is really bright outside when it is daytime and there are no clouds.

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