| 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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