2015 Was The Wettest Year On Record In Texas

The state of Texas experienced more rainfall in 2015 than any year on record, according to state climate experts, as floods and storms battered the state throughout the year.

The Office of the State Climatologist at Texas A&M estimates that 41.36 inches of rain fell in Texas in 2015, John Nielsen-Gammon, a state climatologist, told Patch.

The number represents the average rainfall in any given location across the state.

The NOAA reported that 38.7 inches of rain had fallen in the state through November, and the climatologist office estimates 2.65 inches for December. Nielsen-Gammon told Patch that the estimate should be close to the NOAA’s official number once it is released.

State rainfall records date back to 1895.

The current El Niño has been one of the strongest ever recorded. It has caused unusually warm weather for much of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast.

El Niño is also at least partly responsible for the heavy rainfall in Texas this year.

“Aside from the randomness of the weather, the strongest contributing factor was the developing El Niño,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

May was the single wettest month on record for the state of Texas, Nielsen-Gammon said, accumulating 9.05 inches of rain. October tied for the second-wettest.

October’s flooding in Austin and across the state was the single wettest storm on record in Texas, according to Nielsen-Gammon.