TEXAS DROUGHT – Drought throughout Texas appears to be getting worse.
That’s according to weekly figures from the U.S. Drought Monitor released last week.
Eric Luebehusen is a meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He said he’s holding his breath for some much-needed rain across Central and Northern Texas.
"We’re kind of in a holding pattern, hoping that things get a little bit better here over the next week to at least slow down the degradations that we’re seeing across essentially West Central, Northern Eastern Texas, as well as the Gulf coast region" explained Luebehusen.
More than 43 percent of Texas is experiencing drought conditions — up nearly five percent from last week.
The number goes up to almost 64 percent when including areas considered Abnormally Dry.
Luebehusen says while some heavy rain events peppered parts of the state over the couple of weeks, it’s going to take a lot more precipitation to make a real dent in the dry conditions.
According to Luebehusen “…hoping for a little bit more widespread soaking with the next two potential rain events, but the overall idea has been for conditions to essentially either hold steady or deteriorate across much of Texas.” Other areas that saw a significant increase in drought intensity and coverage was down along the Gulf Coast.
Pretty much the entire Texas Gulf Coast, although the coastal areas around Victoria, Texas were unchanged.