AUSTIN, Texas — According to this week’s update of the Drought Monitor, 65 percent of Texas is now experiencing drought conditions.
Severe drought (orange on the Drought Monitor) has now encompassed areas north and west of Austin, including much of the Colorado River basin and areas as far south as Fredericksburg along the 290 corridor.
South and east of the Capitol City, abnormally dry (noted in yellow) conditions continue from Austin to Bastrop to Lockhart to San Marcos.
NOAA said the drought footprint across America is the most expansive observed since late 2014.
Looking back, the strongest El Niño on record was in progress at that time and likely the main reason for excessive rain that year.
And El Niño, often the Texas drought buster, might be coming back as soon as the end of 2018.
For now, cooler-than-normal waters along the equatorial Pacific continue to show La Niña conditions at play.
It’s been weakening since October.
This week’s forecast from NOAA shows a 55 percent chance of neutral El Niño conditions developing around March to May.
We often refer to this absence of La Niña or El Niño as La Nada, which means "the nothing" in Spanish.