In areas that received heavier rains, the higher amounts in a short time did not allow for incorporation into the soil profile. The arid conditions took their toll on most dryland crop acres, and irrigated fields struggled to keep up with plant water demands over the course of the growing season, according to numerous AgriLife Extension reports.īell said the recent rainfall was in time to help finish out irrigated crops like corn and grain sorghum, which are in the kernel fill stage, and should benefit boll development in cotton.īut the rainfall amounts around the Texas Plains were scattered and variable, she said. We’re better off with a widespread rain to break the drought, but weather patterns don’t appear to be cooperating following the second hottest summer on record.” “It’s even more important that no hurricane landfalls have occurred. “We haven’t reached peak hurricane season, and we are up to ‘E’ with a few storms brewing, but it seems we’ve avoided a very active season,” he said. The above-normal expectations for hurricanes and tropical storms could deliver moisture, but those storms typically bring destruction as well.Ĭrop field shows cracks in the soil from prolonged drought and extreme heat. Nielsen-Gammon said a La Niña weather pattern is expected to hold through fall and winter, which means below average precipitation and above-average temperatures for Texas historically. We’re still in an extreme moisture deficit, and it will take repeat rain events to change that.” Weather pattern forecast still drier than normal In many areas, we have decent moisture down to 6 or 8 inches, but below that is still dry. “This time the rain was able to soak in, although the subsoil is still depleted. “I had 2 inches of rain on a field in late May that never infiltrated more than 3 or 4 inches down and had dried out completely within a couple days,” he said. That contrasted to the limited rainfall received earlier in May and June, which was quickly lost to hot and windy conditions.Īreas around San Angelo received 1.5-9 inches of rain, and temperatures dropped into the upper 80s for daytime highs and 60s at night with cloudy days. Noland said an important aspect of the recent weather was that the storm systems delivered cooler temperatures and cloudy days along with the rainfall. Kent, a historically arid location in West Texas, north of Alpine, received more rainfall – 13.67 inches – than its average annual amount – 13.06 inches – between Aug. Ferris, just south of Dallas, reported 16.65 inches while Corpus Christi and Houston both picked up more than 14 inches.Įncinal, north of Laredo, received 13.39 inches of rain, while Laredo reported almost 11 inches. The East Texas town of Zavalla between Lufkin and Jasper received the most rain during the month – 17.65 inches, Nielsen-Gammon said. The Texas Panhandle picked up the least amount of precipitation over the past 30 days. The wettest parts included a swath between Del Rio and the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the area between Fort Worth and the Arkansas/Louisiana border. Nielsen-Gammon said rainfall amounts were highly variable across much of the state. The Drought Severity and Coverage Index, DSCI, which ranges from 0-500 and calculates the cumulative drought data for an area, showed the drought peaked at 380 on Aug. The most recent Texas drought monitor map produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska shows reduced drought conditions around the state. It looks like we’re now entering a dry stretch and have seen all the improvement we are going to see for a while.”ĪgriLife Extension agronomists Reagan Noland, Ph.D., San Angelo Jourdan Bell, Ph.D., Amarillo and Ronnie Schnell, Ph.D., Bryan-College Station, said the rains helped, but noted their respective regions were still gripped by drought. “We’ve seen drought contraction across the state, and last week’s rainfall should show improvement in the upcoming drought monitor later this week,” Nielsen-Gammon said. John Nielsen-Gammon, Ph.D., state climatologist in the Texas A&M College of Geosciences Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said most areas of the state received above-average rainfall during August but were still behind average rainfall amounts for the year. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Courtney Sacco) While rainfall across Texas helped many areas, surface water availability remained an issue as drought conditions continued. Low stock tank levels around the state were a major concern for cattle producers around the state.
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