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Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Update on Drought in Texas and Surrounding Region
Update on Drought in Texas and Surrounding Region
The first substantial rains of the year inundated portions of central Texas over the past two weeks providing some welcome relief to a few areas. However, the drought remains the worst on record for most of Texas and New Mexico, and a dust storm reminiscent of the 1930s pummeled the Texas Panhandle and areas south of there just last week.
A dust storm bears down on Lubbock, Texas on October 17th. Photo by John Holsenbeck/AP.
Recent rainfall, illustrated in the above set of precipitation anomaly maps, has alleviated the drought situation in portions of Central Texas.
Texas Drought Situation
In spite of the recent rainfall most of Texas remains in a critical drought situation as the latest drought monitor maps for the state indicate:
Two cartographic views of the drought in Texas. The top map is the drought monitor map based largely on soil moisture and at bottom is the Keetch-Byram Drought Index map which is designed to assess fire danger on a scale from 0 (low fire danger) to 800 (extreme fire danger).
Some sites, such as Amarillo and Lubbock, are on track for their driest calendar year on record and have already established their driest water year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) ever observed. For the state as whole, the January through September period has ranked as the direst since at least 1895.
The latest statewide precipitation ranking map for the past 117 years for the year 2011 as of September 30th. Both Texas and New Mexico have experienced their driest year on record so far. In contrast, Vermont, New York, Ohio, and New Jersey have experienced their wettest year on record so far.
New Mexico Drought Situation
New Mexico, like Texas, has also experienced its driest January through September period on record as the ranking map above indicates. As of Oct. 1, all of the state aside from a couple of small pockets, have experienced well below normal precipitation.
However, since the above map was created some good rainfall has fallen over portions of the state so far this October including Albuquerque, which picked up 1.44” in mid-October, its first substantial rainfall in over a year.
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana Drought Situation
Drought-stricken portions of western Oklahoma experienced some very heavy rainfall in October alleviating to some degree the short-term drought situation. Western Kansas, however, missed most of the rainfall and Dodge City is on track for possibly its driest calendar year on record. Dodge City has already experienced its driest water year on record when only 7.94” fell between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2011. Its previous driest water year was 8.36” in 1956. The driest location in the state for the past water year was Sublette 7 WSW where a meager 4.49” was measured. Elkhart picked up only. 6.00”.
Since this graphic was produced on September 30th, Dodge City has picked up an additional 1.20” of precipitation so far this October. Graphic from the NWS office at Dodge City, Kansas.
Western Louisiana also missed the recent rains and remains in exceptional drought. Shreveport has received only about 58% of its normal precipitation so far this year.
Below are some maps and tables summarizing the latest drought and precipitation figures for the region:
The precipitation table above shows the year-to-date (as of Oct. 22) precipitation, what the normal year-to-date precipitation should be, and what the single driest calendar year on record has been for the cities listed. Note the paltry .48" so far this year at Pecos: the driest calendar year in Texas records was 1.64" at Presidio in 1956.
Two overview maps of the seasonal drought outlook for the USA and the amount of additional precipitation needed to return to normal.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The first substantial rains of the year inundated portions of central Texas over the past two weeks providing some welcome relief to a few areas. However, the drought remains the worst on record for most of Texas and New Mexico, and a dust storm reminiscent of the 1930s pummeled the Texas Panhandle and areas south of there just last week.
A dust storm bears down on Lubbock, Texas on October 17th. Photo by John Holsenbeck/AP.
Recent rainfall, illustrated in the above set of precipitation anomaly maps, has alleviated the drought situation in portions of Central Texas.
Texas Drought Situation
In spite of the recent rainfall most of Texas remains in a critical drought situation as the latest drought monitor maps for the state indicate:
Two cartographic views of the drought in Texas. The top map is the drought monitor map based largely on soil moisture and at bottom is the Keetch-Byram Drought Index map which is designed to assess fire danger on a scale from 0 (low fire danger) to 800 (extreme fire danger).
Some sites, such as Amarillo and Lubbock, are on track for their driest calendar year on record and have already established their driest water year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30) ever observed. For the state as whole, the January through September period has ranked as the direst since at least 1895.
The latest statewide precipitation ranking map for the past 117 years for the year 2011 as of September 30th. Both Texas and New Mexico have experienced their driest year on record so far. In contrast, Vermont, New York, Ohio, and New Jersey have experienced their wettest year on record so far.
New Mexico Drought Situation
New Mexico, like Texas, has also experienced its driest January through September period on record as the ranking map above indicates. As of Oct. 1, all of the state aside from a couple of small pockets, have experienced well below normal precipitation.
However, since the above map was created some good rainfall has fallen over portions of the state so far this October including Albuquerque, which picked up 1.44” in mid-October, its first substantial rainfall in over a year.
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana Drought Situation
Drought-stricken portions of western Oklahoma experienced some very heavy rainfall in October alleviating to some degree the short-term drought situation. Western Kansas, however, missed most of the rainfall and Dodge City is on track for possibly its driest calendar year on record. Dodge City has already experienced its driest water year on record when only 7.94” fell between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2011. Its previous driest water year was 8.36” in 1956. The driest location in the state for the past water year was Sublette 7 WSW where a meager 4.49” was measured. Elkhart picked up only. 6.00”.
Since this graphic was produced on September 30th, Dodge City has picked up an additional 1.20” of precipitation so far this October. Graphic from the NWS office at Dodge City, Kansas.
Western Louisiana also missed the recent rains and remains in exceptional drought. Shreveport has received only about 58% of its normal precipitation so far this year.
Below are some maps and tables summarizing the latest drought and precipitation figures for the region:
The precipitation table above shows the year-to-date (as of Oct. 22) precipitation, what the normal year-to-date precipitation should be, and what the single driest calendar year on record has been for the cities listed. Note the paltry .48" so far this year at Pecos: the driest calendar year in Texas records was 1.64" at Presidio in 1956.
Two overview maps of the seasonal drought outlook for the USA and the amount of additional precipitation needed to return to normal.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.