Posted: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 10:51 AM - 7,775 Readers

By: Claudia Grisales

Central Texas will get a taste of fall this Labor Day weekend, with a weak cold front ushering in highs in the upper 80s and lows into the 60s, according to the National Weather Service.

The lower temperatures come the day after Camp Mabry saw an all-time record daily rainfall total for the date of 3.55 inches, said Joe Baskin, forecaster for the service. With 24-hour rainfall total records dating back to 1892, yesterday’s rain beats out a previous record of 1.79 inches reached in 1979, Baskin said.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, however, didn’t see anything of the like: it recorded a trace of rain for the 24-hour total yesterday, Baskin said.

The storm, however, did trigger some overnight power outages, Austin Energy officials say.

A rotted utility pole fell in South Austin, causing 2,800 customers to lose power near Slaughter Lane between Brodie Lane and Manchaca Road, said Carlos Cordova, spokesman for Austin Energy. Most of those customers were restored by 11:30 p.m. and the rest by 12:30 a.m., Cordova said.

A second weather-related outage occurred near Blanco and 9th streets shortly before midnight, Cordova said. In that case, 1,800 customers lost power but were restored shortly after midnight, he said.

This weekend’s drop in temperatures is another break in recent weeks from the triple-digit temperatures and high humidity that dominated the month of August for the region.

But it’s also in line with the milder temperatures we have seen throughout this year, said Monte Oaks, meteorologist for the service.

The weekend, off to a wet start with overnight rains bringing anywhere from a half-inch to one inch of rain to most of the Austin area, could see more rain this afternoon with a 60 percent chance for showers, Oaks said.

“It’s a bit of a taste of fall,” Oaks said. “The hot, humid (weather patterns) in August made us almost forget how mild it was at the start of the summer.”

We’re slated to see a high of 89 or 90 in the Austin area today, with a high in the mid-80s in higher elevation areas to the Northwest, Oaks said.

The last time we saw a high in the 80s was more than a month ago on July 28, Oaks said.

Tonight, we’re slated to see a low in the lower 60s, the service said.

The rain should clear up as we head further into the weekend, Oaks said, with dry conditions and highs in the low- to mid 90s. By the evening of the Labor Day holiday, however, we could see rain creep back into the forecast, Oaks said. There’s a 30 percent chance for rain that day, the service said.

*  Story Contributed by: Claudia Grisales