“Going forward, with September and October being far and away the wettest two-month period in South Texas, with nearly 33% of the yearly rainfall falling during these two months, I would be optimistic that the drought tide is turning in South Texas,” Murphy said. Murphy said Friday that immediate outlook, combined with a normal September and October, should provide some relief. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood advisory for some parts of the area through Monday evening.
Some parts of Texas already had a glimpse of relief over the weekend, when rain fell over parts of San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. In South Texas, September and October usually see about 9.5 inches of rain, or about a third of the region’s annual rainfall. Murphy said that although Texas saw below-average rainfall the last three months, he still thinks some parts of the state could see a reprieve over the next eight to 10 weeks. “With high temperatures, significant water demands and no substantial rain in the forecast, LCRA expects levels in both water-supply lakes to continue to decline this summer due to customer use and evaporation,” the Lower Colorado River Authority stated in its Monday operations report.
As of Monday, Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis, two of the water supply systems that serve the area, were at 63% and 52% of their full storage capacities, respectively. San Antonio is about 14 inches below its normal annual rainfall average, and some water restrictions have been implemented in the Austin area, with more possible if current conditions hold. Upstream, in Val Verde County, the Amistad Reservoir was in slightly better shape at about 30% full, but still about 18% less than it was six months ago, according to the data.Īustin and San Antonio are also feeling the effects of the drought. County judges in Hidalgo and Cameron counties issued their own disaster declarations last week. In the Rio Grande Valley, some local officials have implemented mandatory water restrictions, Texas Public Radio reported. Its reservoir storage was about 286,000 acre-feet, down about 146,494 acre-feet from six months ago. As of Monday the reservoir was only 9.5% full, according to the Texas Water Development Board. The drought is especially felt in the Rio Grande Valley, home to the Falcon Reservoir, which feeds water to communities north and south of the Rio Grande. The declaration allows for the “use of all available resources of state government and of political subdivisions that are reasonably necessary to cope with this disaster.” 5 a disaster declaration he issued in July for dozens of affected counties in Texas. “So that's the hottest July ever and the second hottest month ever,” he said. Murphy said last month was five degrees warmer than normal. 9, 96% of the state was in a drought, with 68% of the state seeing “extreme” or “exceptional” drought conditions, according to the Texas Water Development Board’s weekly update. we had the hottest April through July on record.”Īs of Aug. It carries you over into the next 9 to 12 months. “If your wet seasons are wet, that’s wonderful.
“It was pretty much a worst-case scenario for Texas,” said Victor Murphy, National Weather Service Southern Region Climate program manager. More than two months later, they know the answer. It was in late April - when more than half of Texas was in an elevated drought phase – that meteorologists and climatologists said weather patterns over the next few months would be key in determining how long the dry spell would last.