Posted: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:11 PM - 9,152 Readers

By: David C. Doolittle and Patrick George

Although skies dark much of day, most rain passed by Austin area.

Although showers and thunderstorms mostly passed Austin by on Wednesday, parts of the Hill Country saw up to 4 inches of rain, and more is expected today and the rest of the week.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport saw 0.03 of an inch of rain Wednesday, said Mark Brundrett of the National Weather Service.

Most of the rain Wednesday was to the south, west and north — pretty much everywhere but Austin, Brundrett said. The Canyon Dam area had up to 4 inches, and several ranches in western Comal County got more than 2 inches.

photo by Ralph Barrera

More than 3 inches were reported in the Wimberley area, where Hays County officials closed four roads because of flash flooding.

"It's certainly been awhile since that kind of rain activity, but our road officials were on the lookout," county spokeswoman Laureen Chernow said. "We know from experience that a little water can go a long way sometimes."

Wednesday, which had a high of 87 at the airport and 88 at Camp Mabry, was the first time Austin has seen highs in the 80s since May 27, when the high was 85 at the airport and 88 at Mabry, according to the weather service. The high today is expected to be about 90.

Rain chances will remain high the rest of the week, thanks to a low-pressure system approaching from the northwest that was expected to arrive late Wednesday, said the weather service's Joe Baskin.