After 84 days,
it finally rained in North Texas.
One minute
before midnight Saturday, enough drops had fallen in a rain gauge
at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to register 1/100th
of an inch--the only measurable rainfall the official rain gauge
had taken in since June 30.
Those few
drops, and the showers that followed on Sunday, officially ended
North Texas' record dry spell. The streak had shattered the previous
record of 58 days set during the dust bowl in 1934 and reached
in again in 1950.
``It's been
that long? We need it,'' said Chris Jenkins, 21, a security guard
working at a northwest Dallas office building as the first drops
of rain began to fall. It only lasted about 20 minutes, he said,
catching him by surprise as he walked to his truck to get change
for a vending machine.
North Texans
awoke Sunday to a silver sky, soggy ground and scattered showers.
The official rainfall by midafternoon, according to the National
Weather Service: 15/100ths of an inch.
``This obviously
doesn't end the drought, but hopefully this is a sign of things
to come,'' said Jesse Moore, a weather service meteorologist in
Fort Worth.
Drought conditions
since 1996 have caused more than $5 billion in losses to farmers
and ranchers statewide, officials with the Texas Department of
Agriculture have said, and this year's record dry spell worsened
conditions.
Last year,
the drought led to losses of $223 million. Losses so far this
year are $595 million.
``I love the
smell of rain,'' said Nancy Wright as she ventured onto the wet
streets to shop.
With the rain,
the temperature dropped as well. After a high of 97 degrees at
the airport Saturday, the temperature Sunday was expected to top
out at about 74 degrees, officials said.
The showers
left behind a quarter of an inch of rain in several parts of the
region. Denton, about 35 miles north of Dallas, recorded 3 inches,
according to the National Weather Service.
One North
Dallas carwash had to close its doors for the first time in three
months. ``We're usually open on Sunday, but when it rains we have
to close,'' said Anselno Sifuentes, an employee of the Aladdin
Carwash.
North Texas'
record dry streak can be traced back to a stubborn ridge of high
pressure that had settled right above the state, Moore said. More
specifically, the ridge can be traced back to La Nina, a warming
of the waters off the coast of Peru, he said.
As La Nina
weakens, that ridge breaks down. That's apparent in the cold fronts
being allowed into the region this week, Moore said.
Rain fell
in parts of North Texas earlier this month but had missed the
weather service's official gauge at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
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