Dark clouds brought rain and cooler temperatures throughout Lampasas County late last week.

Lampasas received 0.70 inches of rain on Thursday and a total of 1.22 inches through Sunday, according to www.weather.com. The recent rains increased Lampasas' yearly precipitation to 16.87 inches, according to the Web site, compared with 20.35 inches at this point in 2008.

The rains should provide some relief from drought conditions and high fire risk, both of which have prevailed across Central Texas for months. Most of Lampasas County on Monday was in the middle of the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which measures soil moisture depletion. Strips of central Lampasas County, and some areas near the Mills County line, were in the wettest one-quarter to onethird of the drought index.

The showers helped landowners who needed to remove trash or brush, as County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse lifted the county- wide burn ban at 10 a.m. on Friday. The ban will resume Thursday at 6 p.m.

In the east end of the county, F.A. Taylor had 4.3 inches of slow, soaking rain from Friday morning through Sunday night.

Drizzle began to fall Thursday night at Betty Rials' home in the township of Adamsville. Mrs. Rials reported 2.62 inches of precipitation and "a light norther" as of Monday morning.

Travis and Mary Ann Herring got 0.33 inches of rain on Wednesday at their ranch north of Lometa. Another 0.75 inches fell on Thursday, and the Herrings enjoyed a half-inch of precipitation during the weekend.

"We could use some for the tanks, but the ground is in good shape," Herring said.

Forecasts call for partly cloudy skies through the weekend, with high temperatures projected to reach into the low 80s and overnight lows to dip into the low 60s.