Following the wettest August on record, and a dry September, the Texas Water Development Board said Grayson County and much of Northeast Texas is experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions.
“Last week, we traded dry and drought conditions in most of South-Central Texas for dry and drought conditions in North and Northeast Texas,” Robert Mace, TWDB deputy executive water science and conservation administrator, said in the report.
Villanueva said the Sherman station reported 1.5 inches of rain from Tuesday’s storms, with NTRA reporting traces of rainfall.
On average, the reservoirs are 3.5 percent above the median of 80 percent full for this time of the year, he said.
This puts the lake into its flood control pool, which was 6.37 percent full on Wednesday.
The report found that 4 percent of the state is currently in a state of drought, up from 3 percent a week ago. Following the arrival of Hurricane Harvey, the water board classified less than 1 percent of Texas as experiencing a drought.
The dry conditions in Texoma come following an abnormally dry September, where portions of the region saw less than one-tenth of an inch of rain throughout the month.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Villanueva said only 0.03 inches of rain was recorded at North Texas Regional Airport — Perrin Field. Similarly, a co-op weather station in Sherman received 0.02 inches for the entire month, she said.

As October 1 marks the start of a new water season, there is lots to celebrate in Utah’s good fortune.
Cumulative precipitation totals across the state ended the year at or above normal, and Utah’s reservoirs are, on average, nearly three-quarters full, according to the monthly Utah Climate and Water Report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The mountains even had a little snow.
Taken together, hydrologists say that with a few exceptions in central and northeast Utah, water supplies should be more adequate in the near term, even if the state’s luck with weather conditions runs out.
That isn’t to say the skies delivered water consistently this year.
Last year appears to have initiated a stormy cycle that the center expects to continue into 2018.
As the state has warmed, Meyer said, snow has become less common, even though total precipitation has increased slightly.

Tuesday’s rain could help give Northeast Texas a reprieve from the possibility of burn bans that recent dry weather has brought to the area.
"(Tuesday) was a blessing," Gregg County Fire Marshal Mark Moore said of the showers.
Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt said the county is monitoring the situation to determine if and when an outdoor burn ban might be necessary.
The average for this time of year is 34.32 inches.
Longview didn’t log a whole inch of rain in September, while the normal amount for the month is 3.34 inches.
The other six months of this year were below normal, according to information from the National Weather Service.
Tuesday’s rains brought less than a 10th of an inch of rain to Longview, according to the National Weather Service.
Gregg County and much of Northeast Texas were in the 600 to 700 range as of Tuesday, according to the Texas Forest Service.
The Texas Forest Service Burn Ban Map online shows Henderson and Kaufman counties are the closest counties to Gregg County to have enacted a burn ban.
Rusk County commissioners are set to consider one today, but County Judge Joel Hale said he doesn’t expect that to happen.

Drenching downpours and locally gusty thunderstorms will erupt over parts of the southern and central Plains through Thursday.
"Into Wednesday night, the heaviest rain will extend from central Kansas to northern and central Oklahoma, the northern Texas Panhandle and adjacent New Mexico," according to AccuWeather Lead Storm Warning Meteorologist Eddie Walker.
The commute along Interstate 35 between Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas, will be slow at times due to excess water on the road and poor visibility. Similar conditions are likely along portions of I-40 in Oklahoma and Texas and I-135 in Kansas.
In terms of severe weather, a few storms can become severe at the local level in parts of northwestern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on Friday afternoon and evening.
People should be prepared for travel delays around Topeka, Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa, or essentially along I-35 in this zone.
The rainfall will impact agriculture in the region.
"On one hand, the rain will slow the corn harvest in some areas and the planting of winter wheat in others," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls.
The area being affected by the downpours has received between 10 and 80 percent of normal rainfall since Sept. 1.
As cooler air advances to the east, it will help to pull up a tropical system currently brewing near Central America.

The arid and semi-arid communities in the affected areas are now under significant stress because their livelihoods have been disrupted as the weather conditions continue to worsen," Maurice Onyango, Kenya Red Cross Society Country Coordinator, told DW.
This assistance enables the drought-affected communities across Samburu to purchase much-needed food from the local markets, which has had an impact on reducing malnutrition levels in the area.
Maurice Onyango told DW how the drought has affected the Samburu people, and how the program works: "Through funds from FAO we are able to buy livestock and do destocking, which is especially useful with regard to the weak livestock. We then give the animals as meat for nutritional support at a household level. This is how we are supporting communities through the current drought situation in Samburu."
So there has been a two-month period where people have been receiving sufficient protein from their own livestock — which is vital.
And because I have goat meat to cook, I could use it to enjoy my Ugali meal. But fortunately, through this project, I get to eat meat, even if there is no milk.

Residents have been asked to voluntarily restrict outdoor water usage between 9 p.m. and 10 a.m.
In a news release, Bill Mawyer, RWSA director, said water levels in the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir have been declining for the last few weeks, prompting the declaration.
“Since September 25th, the water level in the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir declined from 58 percent to 45 percent of capacity,” Mawyer said in an email.

The “abnormally dry” classification by U.S. Drought Monitor comes after three months of below average rainfall.
Above normal precipitation earlier this year, took Connecticut out of a drought that was the worst in 50 years.
It’s the first time abnormally dry conditions have been seen in Connecticut since last May.
It says nearly 67 percent of the state is abnormally dry, up nearly 50 percent than the previous assessnent of Sept. 21.
Figures from the Northeast Regional Climate Center show Danbury airport is 12.8 includes below the 37.20 inches that should have fallen by this time of year.
Tweed-New Haven Airport in East Haven is 15.32 inches below its more than 35 inch average this time of year.
Greenwich Conservation Director Denise Savageau said late late month although it rained more than average in April, May and June — July, August and September have been dry.
“We are seeing a trend now,” she said.
“As of Sept. 21, we are at 62.1 percent in the Greenwich Reservoir, below the 20-year average,” which is about 70 percent at this time of year, she said.
But the news was not all bad, she said.

Yesterday I posted a paper by Debra Perrone (Stanford University) and Scott Jasechko (University of Calgary), Dry Groundwater Wells in the Western United States, Environ. Res. Lett.
Declining groundwater levels can threaten water and agricultural security by reducing the rate that wells can pump water or causing them to dry entirely. There is anecdotal evidence that wells are drying or becoming unproductive due to declining water tables, but the lack of well construction information and water level measurements across jurisdictions makes it dif cult to assess which wells have been impacted by declining water levels.
Although most states have made signi cant progress in their collection of groundwater well records, their still exists a patchwork of data across the western 17 states. Because some aquifers span multiple jurisdictions, it can be dif cult to reconcile the data due to different data collection methods.
Enjoy!

Fields flooded by multiple inches of rain in late spring to early summer have now been replaced by weeks and weeks of drought, with no end to that in sight.
“We had a stretch where it rained more than once every third day.

Nick Xenophon has called for a royal commission into water theft along the Murray Darling river system, following fresh allegations of water misuse in Queensland.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has pledged to write to the auditor general to request a review of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, which is supposed to ensure the $13bn Murray Darling Basin plan is working properly.
The farmer denied the claim and said the levee was a road, built before he took over the property, and it had drains to allow floodwaters through.
The report also revealed glaring problems with the Murray Darling Basin plan itself, and an alleged failure by the MDBA to listen to the concerns of affected farmers.
Xenophon said the allegations highlighted the need for a royal commission, because all levels of government had a case to answer, but the current Senate inquiry could not compel a state government agency or state public servants to appear.
He also said the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, could not continue to credibly act as minister for water and agriculture because the portfolios had competing interests in protecting the environment and farmers’s interests.
“How many more reports of water misuse and theft need to come out before proper action is taken?” she said on Friday. “It’s time to shine a light on where the plan is being exploited.
“River communities are crying out for the government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority to listen to their long-held concerns, and act. Those living in the Basin known all too well that if their neighbour’s doing the wrong thing, there will be others doing the wrong thing elsewhere.