Slight improvement in this week’s drought monitor
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – This week’s drought monitor brings about what we would expect – no huge changes, but at least a little improvement in some spots.
The main idea: We are still very much in drought, even in the areas that are a slightly lighter shade of red today. Widespread rain from last week has allowed the northeastern sliver of the area to take a step down to D3 (Extreme Drought) while the rest of the Brazos Valley (Save parts of Montgomery and San Jacinto counties) remains in D4 (Exceptional Drought). In other words, while greatly welcome and needed, last week’s rain was not nearly enough to fend off the drought.
Across the state, general improvement can be noted, with a large portion of Northwest Texas now technically out of drought (Abnormally Dry). The big maroon blob is not quite as pronounced across Central/Southeast Texas, but it isn’t as large and threatening as it was even a week ago.
The weekly drought monitor came in about as expected for this week, with some minor improvement across our northeastern counties. More rain next week could help keep the drought from worsening.
We are still in exceptional drought: So how much is needed to wipe this slate completely clean?
How much rain do we need to get out of drought? A lot. We don’t have torrential, multi-day rain events coming any time soon, but next week’s rain may stave off any worsening of drought.
A lot. And probably an amount of rain that we would not like to receive all at once. We have a lot of ground to gain from such a dry summer; in a perfect world, we can stack a couple months of above average rainfall (maybe a minor flood event or two) and slowly work our way back to drought-free. Of course, we know it rarely happens that way.
The weekly drought monitor came in about as expected for this week, with some minor improvement across our northeastern counties. More rain next week could help keep the drought from worsening.
What’s up next: As high pressure weakens and moves west early next week, a low will swing our way and bring numerous to even widespread showers and storms our way that may allow a few of us to collect an inch or more before we get to midweek. This is still a bit away, but signals are looking good that we can at least stave off the worsening drought for another week.
And no, this rain chance is NOT attached to a big, crisp, fall airmass. Keep the coffees iced, for now.
