Although Tropical Depression Erin long ago made landfall as a tropical storm, we here in Dallas, some many hundreds of miles from the coast, expect to have a wet weekend thanks to this visitor.  We’ll see if the forecast holds together, but that measly 20-30% chance of rain has already doubled in the last 24 hours—and it now covers a great deal more territory on the calendar.

After four months of flooding rains and a brief visit from summer during the past two weeks, no one here is regretting the arrival of this new storm system.  Already it has cooled our temperatures by ten degrees by way of offering an umbrella of clouds and a perceptible increase of moisture in the air.

We’ll take it.  The weather has been grisly since our torrential precipitation ended a few weeks ago.  Even if it means more problems, most I’ve spoken with welcome the return of the rains.

Meanwhile, back in the Bat Cave, let me say this: What a bizarre, totally unpredictable year this has been with regards to the weather!  Freakish, in fact.  I wonder what the rest of the year has in store for us. . .

[Update] Something I didn’t realize until today is that Texas has been considered in drought conditions for more than a decade.  I kept saying we’ve had a two-year drought, but that’s more the severe drought that hit North Texas.  I’ve apparently been remiss in explaining that the entire state has suffered under a perpetual drought since at least 1996.  That event came to an abrupt end this year—across the entire state.  What a marvelously dangerous beast our weather has been.  And now I’ve learned something new. . .