Temple received about three-quarters of an inch of rain as a cold front moved slowly through the area during the early morning and mid-day hours, said Troy Marshall, spokesman for the National Weather Service Fort Worth office. Temperatures were in the mid-60s throughout much of the afternoon.
Forecasts call for temperatures to reach a high of 79 degrees today with a low of 60 degrees tonight. There's a 30 percent chance of showers for this evening and into Thursday morning. The high Thursday is expected to be about 78 degrees, with a chance of thunderstorms.
Recent rainfall has helped bring lake levels up at Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
"Stillhouse looks like it's just about normal," said Capt. Fred Churchill, game warden captain for Texas Parks and Wildlife. "Lake Belton still needs to come up."
Churchill estimated Lake Belton, which at one time was about 8 feet below its normal level, is "still about 3 to 4 feet low even after all this rain we've had."
The 17 inches of rain that fell between Salado and Stillhouse Hollow on Sept. 11 didn't fall in the watershed that feeds Stillhouse and Belton lakes, he said.
"That watershed stretches from Lampasas up to Hamilton. That's the watershed that flows water into those lakes," Churchill said.
Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir is fed by the Lampasas River, while Lake Belton is fed by the Leon River and Cowhouse Creek.
Still, the lakes are "doing well and fishing has improved dramatically because of the fresh water coming in," he said.
Also improving the fishing are new ground spots, created when water covers areas of the lake left uncovered during the drought where vegetation was beginning to grow.
"When you have rain cover up those areas where vegetation has grown, smaller fish go into those areas for cover and the larger fish follow to feed on those smaller fish," Churchill said.
Rain may temporarily delay highway work by the Texas Department of Transportation, but "it's not putting them behind schedule," said Ken Roberts, TxDOT Waco Region spokesman.
"There's a certain amount of time built in for weather-related situations," he said. "A day or two, or even three, will not put a project behind schedule … if we have to go about two weeks before it's dry enough to do any work, that might make a difference."
Meanwhile, the village of Salado didn't see the kind of heavy rainfall Tuesday that caused Salado Creek to flood on Sept. 11, temporarily shutting down the Main Street bridge.
"The most we've had is about an inch," Salado Fire Chief Charles Young said.
"For the time being, the bridge is open, it's structurally sound and traffic can utilize it," Roberts said.
