Drouth Conditions
Prevalent In Texas

(Editor’s note: This article pre-dates Memorial Day rainfall across a broad swath of the state’s midsection. Accumulations varied from traces to several inches, but real soil moisture is still woefully short in areas where drouthy conditions have prevailed for the last several years, interrupted only by periodic and often localized reprieves.)

AMARILLO — West Texas is officially in a drouth.

The National Weather Service defines a drouth as two months with less than 50 percent of normal rainfall. That puts almost the entire state in a drouth.

Lubbock has received only 0.43 of an inch of rain since April 1, compared with a normal rainfall of 1.46 inches. Midland has reported only a trace of rain in the past two months. Amarillo received .97 of an inch in April, compared to a normal rainfall of 3.06 inches. By mid-May, Amarillo received .53 of an inch of rain. Normally, Amarillo would have received 1.46 inches of rain. That means that since April 1, Amarillo has received about 1.5 inches while normally the area could expect more than 4.5 inches.

Officials say Amarillo is at about 33 percent of normal rainfall for the last two months.

Presidio County officials say dry conditions there are bad enough, but the lack of rain last July, August and September, when they normally get moisture, has made matters worse.

Even in parts of the state that usually get more rain, things are dry.

North Texas, around Dallas and Fort Worth, reported only 1.01 inches of rain so far in May. Normally, they have 3.45 inches. Waco has had only a trace, according to weather officials, instead of the 3.26 inches they normally receive during May.

San Antonio also recorded only a trace instead of its typical 2.76 inches.

Houston had only a trace and Corpus Christi reported no rain. Houston normally can depend upon about 3.44 inches of rain in May. Corpus Christi usually gets about 2.14 inches of rain.

At the south end of the state, Brownsville had less than .01 inches of rain so far in May. They usually get 1.84 inches.