Published: May 29,2015
May 2015 is now the wettest single month on record in Texas and Oklahoma.
State climatologist Gary McManus from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey calculated the May rainfall total averaged over all Sooner State reporting stations through midday May 29 - 14.18 inches - was easily outpacing the previous record wet month, set in October 1941 (10.75 inches).
Not to be outdone, Texas has picked up a statewide average of 7.54 inches so far in May, crushing the previous record wet month of June 2004 during which a statewide average of 6.66 inches of rain fell, according to the Office of the State Climatologist at Texas A&M University.
A flooded bayou in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015. (DoubleHornPhoto.com)
Officials in parts of Texas are warning that flooding could last for weeks. May rainfall totals, which have now topped 20 inches since May 1 at several locations.
Overnight Thursday into early Friday, more flash flooding pounded the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex, stranding cars and flooding apartments.
(MORE: Dallas-Ft. Worth Flooding May 28-29)
More than 10 inches of rain fell in parts of Houston Monday night, causing widespread flash flooding in the city. A flash flood emergency was issued by the National Weather Service for much of the night.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, catastrophic flash flooding overnight Saturday into early Sunday flooded hundreds of homes in Hays County, Texas, including areas near Wimberley and San Marcos.
(RECAP: Catastrophic Flash Flooding Texas, Oklahoma | Jaw-Dropping Houston Flood Images)
The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi, Texas, says flooding is likely to continue for weeks along the Nueces River just west of Corpus Christi. The flooding is affecting a stretch downstream of the Wesley Seale Dam, which impounds Lake Corpus Christi.
That reservoir has reached its full capacity due to widespread heavy rainfall upstream across South Texas this month. In a disaster declaration issued Thursday, Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said water releases from the dam began this past weekend "in order to prevent damage to [the dam] and to avoid uncontrolled downstream impacts." About 100 homes have already been cut off by floodwaters, and hundreds of homes are at risk of flooding in the days ahead.
Lake Texoma, a reservoir impounding the Red River on the Texas-Oklahoma border, has also reached and exceeded its full capacity. The water was flowing over the spillway at the Denison Dam Sunday morning, as the dam's floodgates alone have not been able to release water fast enough to keep up with inflow from the lake's drainage basin, which encompasses more than 30,000 square miles.
Downstream, the Red River is expected to crest the first week of June at levels comparable to the May 1990 flood in Shreveport, Louisiana, potentially flooding some streets in Bossier City and north Shreveport.
According to the National Weather Service, thanks to the number of full reservoirs and tributaries upstream, the Red River may remain high through at least the end of July in the Ark-la-tex region.
The rising Wichita River prompted evacuations of parts of the east side of Wichita Falls, Texas last Wednesday night and Thursday morning. However, the river crested about 2 feet lower than original forecasts and about 3 feet below the late June 2007 record.
Just over 150 locations in the central and southern Plains are currently reporting river flooding, the majority of which are in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern Kansas and Missouri.
Many cities have already clinched a wettest May or month in their weather record including Dallas-Ft. Worth, Wichita Falls, Oklahoma City and Corpus Christi.
(MORE: Any Relief Ahead?)
In Pursuit of May Rainfall Records
North/Central Texas May Rain Totals and Rankings
Central/South Texas May Rainfall and Rankings
From Colorado and Nebraska to Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, several cities have already seen one of their wettest Mays on record. Here's a look at where things stand right now
Amarillo, Texas –
9.29 inches of rain has fallen through May 28, making it the
second-wettest May on record. The all-time record is 9.81 inches in May
1951.
Austin (Camp Mabry), Texas – Extremely heavy rainfall Monday dumped 5.20 inches of rain at Camp Mabry, lifting Austin
to its wettest May on record. The rain tally is 17.59 inches of rain
through May 28, making it by far the wettest May on record, topping the
old record of 14.10 inches in May 1895. It's also the third wettest
month on record. September 1921, with 20.78 inches, leads the pack for
the city's wettest month.
Corpus Christi, Texas –
Rainfall in May 2015 is 14.17 inches through May 28, which is well
beyond the previous May record of 10.44 inches that was set in 1941. A
total of 4.56 inches fell on Thursday to clinch the record. Amazingly,
just nine days prior, exactly 4.56 inches of rain also fell in the city.
May 12 and May 21 are now tied as the third-wettest May days in the
city's weather records.
According to weather.com senior
meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, May 2015 now exceeds Corpus Christi's total
rainfall for the entire drought-parched year of 2011, which was only
12.06 inches.
Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas –
16.07 inches of rain has fallen through May 28 at DFW International
Airport, smashing the old May record of 13.66 inches in 1982.
The
wettest month on record in the DFW metro is 17.64 inches in April 1922.
This is the single wettest month in the Metroplex since April 1942 --
16.97 inches.
Houston, Texas – 13.61 inches of rain has
fallen through May 28 at Bush Intercontinental Airport on the city's
north side, pushing it to fifth place among the city's wettest Mays. The
record wet May there is 15.87 inches in 1907. Lubbock, Texas – 11.64 inches of rain has fallen through May 28, making it Lubbock's second-wettest May on record. The total would have to rise to 12.69 inches to claim the title for the wettest May. According to the National Weather Service, the last time it rained 8 inches or more in a month in Lubbock was September 2008 with 8.70 inches.
It is also the third-wettest month in the city, behind May 1941 (12.69 inches) and September 1936 (13.93 inches), oddly a Dust Bowl year.
Wichita Falls, Texas – May 2015 became the wettest month on record in this northern Texas city early Friday afternoon, May 22, when the city's month-to-date total reached 13.33 inches as of 1:11 p.m. CDT. That broke the record for May and for any month on the calendar, both set in May 1982 with 13.22 inches. Through May 28, the May total has reached 16.83 inches.
According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, May 2015's rainfall in Wichita Falls exceed that from the previous six Mays combined - 13.41 inches.
Shaded
areas show estimated rainfall since the start of May 2015. Specific
numbers plotted on the map are actual totals from airport observations
and CoCoRaHS volunteer observers.Oklahoma City's new all-time record monthly rainfall total cracked the 19-inch mark Wednesday, reaching 19.47 inches through May 28. This is more than the average precipitation over a five-month period from March through July (18.68 inches).
Tulsa, Oklahoma – The city's May total is 13.52 inches through May 28, making it the second-wettest May on record. The record of 18.00 inches in May 1943 will be a tough one to beat.
Fort Smith, Arkansas – This western Arkansas city has now recorded its wettest month in history with 18.53 inches of rain through May 28. This broke the previous record of 15.02 inches in June 1945. Several days ago, Fort Smith surpassed its May record of 13.67 inches from 1943.
Wichita, Kansas – The largest city in Kansas topped the 10-inch mark Saturday thanks to heavy rainfall. Through May 28, the city's month-to-date total was 11.77 inches, making it the second-wettest May on record. The standing record for May is 13.14 inches in 2008.
Lincoln, Nebraska – 10.90 inches of rain has fallen through May 28, ranking as the wettest May in the Nebraska capital, topping the previous wettest May record of 10.72 inches set in 1903.
Valentine, Nebraska – 7.08 inches of rain has fallen through May 28, ranking as the third-wettest May. The current record wettest May of 8.96 inches was set in 1962.
Colorado Springs, Colorado – 7.89 inches of rain at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport through May 28 ranks as the second-wettest May on record. The wettest May was in 1935 when 8.10 inches was recorded. Interestingly, several co-operative and volunteer observation sites only a few miles west of the airport have picked up 10 to 14 inches of rain this month.
Of the first 28 days of May, 22 have had measurable precipitation (.01 inch or greater) at the Colorado Springs airport; that is an all-time record. Five other days have had a trace of precipitation, and only one has been completely dry.
Pueblo, Colorado – A total of 5.35 inches of rain has fallen through May 28, making it the second wettest May on record. The wettest May was in 1957 when 5.43 inches was measured.
Every day since May 5 – that's 25 straight days as of this writing – has brought at least 4 inches of rainfall to at least one location in the state of Texas, according to CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. At least 100 of the volunteer network's 1,699 reporting sites in Texas have recorded at least 10 inches of rain this month. The wettest of all has been Pottsboro, near Lake Texoma along the Oklahoma-Texas border with a total of 26.16 inches through May 28.
Oklahoma has also taken a drenching this month, with month-to-date totals topping 10 inches across much of the southern half of the state. One CoCoRaHS site northeast of Norman has reported 26.56 inches of rain since May 1.
Among other states in the May rainy zone, top month-to-date totals by state include 19.97 inches near Uniontown in northwest Arkansas; 16.59 inches near Ruston in northern Louisiana; 13.77 inches in the Ivywild neighborhood of Colorado Springs, Colorado; 13.03 inches near Fairbury in southeast Nebraska; 14.96 inches southwest of Fredonia, Kansas; and 12.87 inches in Plattsburgh, Missouri near Kansas City.
The 12 National Weather Service offices located in Texas and Oklahoma had issued a combined 552 flash flood warnings so far in May through early on May 29. In all of 2014, they only issued 497 such warnings.
In fact, the Oklahoma
A pattern change should finally bring drier conditions to at least the waterlogged Sooner State and Lone-Star State the first week of June.
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