Before the rain, January off to one of the driest starts ever

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Soaking and widespread rain is in the forecast for Tuesday and we need it. Austin is off to one of its driest starts to a year on record.

January isn't typically that wet of a month in Central Texas anyway. We average 2.64 inches of rain in a typical January at Austin's Camp Mabry. That makes January our fourth-driest month of the year.

Even for a typically drier month, we're off to an even drier start than usual.

We've only picked up 0.08" of rain at Camp Mabry this month and we expect to stay dry through the end of Jan. 23.

If we don't see any measurable rain until Tuesday, we'd be experiencing the seventh-driest start to January on record at Austin's Camp Mabry since records began in 1898.

For the records at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the situation is worse. We're in our second-driest January to date with only 0.09" of measurable rain, tied with January 1948. The only period drier was in 1971. In 1971, we only picked up 0.02" for the whole month at AUS!

Thankfully it won't take much more than a quarter to a half-inch of rainfall to make sure we don't get stuck in the top ten driest Januarys ever at either site. Rainfall amounts on Tuesday should take care of that.

Stay with the First Warning Weather Team as we track the latest trends for our next rainfall.