Our Water: area rainfall trends lower in recent years

Increasing fire risk and impacting local agriculture

Posted: Oct 14, 2020 / 03:05 PM CDT / Updated: Oct 15, 2020 / 07:40 AM CDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas – With water being as important as it is for everyone from residents to area farmers, the National Weather Service has been tracking rainfall averages. According to the NWS in 2019 San Angelo had roughly 17.73 inches. That puts the area roughly 3.52 inches below normal. Thus far in 2020, the NWS calculates 18.47 inches of rainfall, which leaves the area at 0.79 inches above normal. The normal average for area rainfall is 21.25.

Those amounts stand in contrast to the very rainy years between 2015 and 2018, which filled area reservoirs and in some cases triggered flooding. “If you go back to 2015, 16, 17 and even 18 we had quite a bit of rainfall,” said Hector Guerrero with the National Weather Service. “Those were wet years, pretty wet years. So in the last couple of years we’re actually seeing a little bit of a trend, in a sense, of having a little bit less rainfall in this part of Texas.”

That trend is worrisome, not only as San Angelo heads into the dry season with higher risk of fires, but for local agriculture as well. Though usage and evaporation are set to drop in the colder months, NWS staff say doing one’s part to reduce fire risk and conserve water are vital.