By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
It’s very unusual for it to rain all day in Del Rio, and it’s even more unusual for rain to go on through the night and into the next day.
But that’s exactly what happened here on Thursday, Oct. 29, and today, Friday, Oct. 30.
According to the National Weather Service’s website, www.weather.gov, a total of 4.25 inches of rain fell on Del Rio on Thursday, Oct. 29, setting a new rainfall record for that date. The previous record for Oct. 29 was 0.96 inches, set in 1907.
A flood watch is active for Val Verde County until 1 p.m. today. A flood watch has also been issued for Edwards, Kinney, Maverick, Real and Uvalde counties. The flood watch means “life-threatening flooding (is) possible somewhere in the watch area,” the NWS wrote.
The NWS also noted, “Considerable flash flooding of creeks, streams and other low-lying locations is possible. Two to five inches of rain has already fallen across portions of the watch area with additional rainfall amounts of one to three inches, with isolated amounts of up to five inches possible.”
Del Rio meteorologist Dan Schreiber spoke to The 830 Times about the rain.
Schreiber, in an email, wrote, “The abundant moisture and associated heavy rainfall accumulations over the past 24 hours have been a result of several factors, including an upper-level troughing pattern characteristic of the changing seasons, the remnants and associated moisture of former Hurricane Vance which dissipated offshore of Puerto Vallarta on Thursday, and effective low-level moisture transport up the Rio Grande from the Gulf of Mexico/America.”
“Essentially, this allowed the atmosphere over Del Rio to be analogous to a sponge that was so full of water that it had to rain – a lot – and the faucet still remains ‘on’,” Schreiber added.
He also pointed out, “Fortunately, the atmospheric instability was and still is limited, which allows for more of the slow accumulation of rainfall over the course of many hours. This leads to less flooding concerns as the rainwater has time to run off in an orderly fashion and be absorbed into the ground, thus limiting significant flooding which can occur when it rains heavy over shorter period of time. Of course, there may come a point when the ground becomes too saturated, and then the water has nowhere to go anymore, and thus the flood threat does exist through today.”
Schreiber shared some 24-hour rainfall totals from around the area as of 7 a.m. today, including 4.26 inches at Del Rio International Airport, 4.21 inches in the Alta Vista area, 4.56 inches in Ceniza Hills and 3.40 inches at Laughlin Air Force Base.
Farther afield, the Devils River – Dan Allen Hughes recorded 4.07 inches, Devils River Del Norte had 2.66 inches, Kickapoo Caverns in Kinney County had 2.91 inches, Brackettville/Fort Clark had 2.12 inches, Cline had 2.79 inches, and the Foster Ranch west of Langtry had 3.03 inches.
Schreiber wrote, “I haven’t received the total from Comstock yet, but estimates are about 2.30 inches, with a station along the Rio Grande at Zuberbueler Bend measured approximately 2.98 inches as of 8 a.m. (today).”
The 4.25 inches of rain that fell on Del Rio on Thursday, Oct. 29, brings the total amount of rain the city has received in 2026 to date to 20.74 inches, 2.63 inches more than the 18.11 inches the city sees in a normal year.
Schreiber also said rain wasn’t the only eventful weather in the region.
He wrote, “Yesterday (Thursday, Oct. 29), there were also a few tornado reports near Cline along the Highway 90, as well as northeast of Brackettville. The tornado threat remains low, though small, short-lived, generally weak tornadoes are not unheard of during tropical moisture surges such as this, as the wind profile is sheared (changes direction) throughout the atmospheric column. Nothing to be too concerned about, but worth noting given the reports published by the National Weather Service.”
Rain chances continue today and Saturday, Oct. 31, tapering off Saturday evening.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
