4-day rain total nearly equals 4-month norm

A band of strong thunderstorms dropped at least an inch of rain on an already soaked San Antonio, producing numerous road closures and reports of flooded roadways Saturday.

Matthew Brady, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said San Antonio has received 7.13 inches of rain at its official site at the San Antonio International Airport, since Wednesday.

“We almost received as much rainfall as we expected (as a total) for this time of year,” Brady said. The city’s average rainfall for this point in the year is 8.07 inches.

Since the beginning of the year, the area has seen 10.99 inches of rain, giving the city a nearly 3-inch surplus.

But it’s still a far cry from the record. The highest amount of rainfall recorded for the time period was 21.16 inches

in 1992, according to NWS data.

A line of storms that came from the west drenched the area Saturday, forcing up to 75 roads to close at one point, according to the Bexar County website.

San Antonio police were inundated with reports of flooded roadways while firefighters were responding to reports of people stuck in high water. Between 1 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, firefighters responded to 37 calls for water rescues, and four reports of high water.

Officers were blocking off ramps to area highways where water was accumulating, including portions of Interstate 35 downtown.

Several creeks also overflowed, including Leon Creek, which runs through the 400 block of Pinn Road near West Commerce Street. Crews to barricade the road.

Flash flooding was a concern going into Saturday because San Antonio already had accumulated 4 to 6 inches of rainfall from the week’s earlier storms — more than it had received for 2021 before the latest recent string of storms.

San Antonio received a total of only 3.68 inches of rain from beginning of the year through Tuesday.

The J-17 well of the Edwards Aquifer,

an index for the San Antonio pool, rose about 3 feet from 656.4 feet Friday to 659.3 feet Saturday. The 10day average is at 651.3 feet.

The weather Sunday is expected to be dry and mostly sunny, with temperatures reaching as high as 93 degrees, Brady said.

“It's going to be a much nicer day,” Brady said.

The dry weather is expected to continue into Monday — a 20 percent chance of rain creeps into the forecast Monday night into Tuesday.

Brady said anything that develops will be isolated showers and thunderstorms.

Marvin Pfeiffer / Staff photographer An SAPD officer shovels mud off of Interstate 35 on Saturday under San Pedro Avenue.

Marvin Pfeiffer / Staff photographer The highway had to be closed Saturday due to flooding from heavy rains in the San Antonio area.