Posted: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:52 AM - 20,530 Readers

By: Jim Spencer

Winter officially begins at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday -- which also means the amount of daylight starts to increase slowly day by day, beginning Thursday.

The winter solstice will occur as an ongoing series of storm systems continue to bring desperately needed rainfall to Central Texas. The newest storm, tracking across northern Mexico, is expected to bring more rain to our area Wednesday night through early Thursday.

Rainfall totals are expected to average less than 1 inch in the Austin metro area, but up to 1 1/2 inches is possible in counties east of Interstate Highway 35.

Hill Country counties are only expected to receive light amounts, mostly less than 1/4 inch.

After more than a year of intense drought, rain has fallen at least once a week — sometimes more frequently, for the past six weeks. Camp Mabry has received 3.6 inches of rain in December, only 5/100 inch less than the total rainfall in May, the year’s wettest month. December has also become the first month with above average rainfall since last January.

The repetitive storm systems have been tracking across Texas on an active southern branch of the jet stream — a highly unusual pattern during a La Niña fall and winter, which are typically drier than average.

A cold front will follow the storm system early Friday, keeping Christmas weekend rather chilly, with morning lows near freezing, and highs in the 50s through Monday.