Rains Ease Texas Droughts, Long Term Forecasts Still Pessimistic

Despite rather dire forecasts, this weird winter weather pattern has brought beneficial rains to parts of Texas, which has been suffering from one of its worst droughts on record. In fact, the drought has improved so much in some areas that the latest U.S. Drought Monitor now shows a sliver of white in northeast Texas, including the Dallas area, signaling the absence of drought conditions. During 2011, Texas was a sea of deep red on that same map, indicating severe to extreme drought.

 

According to the National Weather Service office in Houston/Galveston, 91 percent of the state was in extreme to exceptional drought in October 2011. Now, only 60 percent of the state is classified that way. As the Weather Service put it, “THERE IS STILL A LONG ROAD AHEAD TO RETURN TO NORMAL BUT EVERY JOURNEY BEGINS WITH THAT FIRST STEP.”

 

However, the rains haven’t exactly been gentle.

 

24-hour rainfall totals near College Station, Texas, last week. Purple swath represents 10-plus inches. (NWS) A severe weather outbreak affected Southeast Texas last week, leading to eight confirmed tornadoes and flash flooding. College Station received more rain in a 24-hour period last week than they received during the October 2010 through March 2011 period, the NWS reported.

 

Much of the state – particularly Southwest Texas – is still locked in the grips of the drought. The small town of Spicewood Beach, located outside Austin, is bringing water in by truck after its well dried up. The drought has taken a heavy toll on the state, costing upward of $5.2 billion in agricultural losses alone, including $1.8 billion in cotton losses and $750 million in lost hay production. As Reuters reported last week , the drought forced a massive cattle migration, with the Texas herd shrinking by a stunning 1.4 million head, the largest decline in 150 years of data.