SUMMARY: Four of the last eight years have been warmer than the Dust Bowl. The rains appear to have stopped for much of the state. Storage in Elephant Butte Reservoir is the highest it’s been since June 2010. El Niño is expected to fizzle into La Nada over the next two months with La Nada conditions projected through the winter. The drought in South Texas and the Lower Rio Grande is expected to persist and
Category: outlook+water
outlook+water: June 2019
SUMMARY: Above-normal rainfall continues to fall for much of the state. H. Ivie and E.V. Spence are at their highest reservoir levels since the late 1990s. However, drought is peeking back into South Texas. The odds of El Niño staying with us through the summer have decreased slightly to 66 percent with a 50 to 55 percent chance of conditions remaining through the fall and winter. The Atlantic hurricane season has been upgraded to normal
outlook+water: May 2019
SUMMARY: Large parts of East and Central Texas received more than 10 inches of rain over the past month. Recent rains have erased drought from the Texas landscape. The odds of El Niño staying with us through the summer have increased to 70 percent. After drought peeked in the window and knocked on the door for several months, in swooped weekly fronts across the state over the past four weeks, topping off reservoirs, flooding rivers,
outlook+water: April 2019
SUMMARY: The High Plains and Lower Rio Grande Valley are out of drought, but drought conditions expanded in south-central, central, and north-central Texas. El Niño is still with us and may remain with us through the fall. The Atlantic is expected to have a slightly-less-than-normal tropical season with 13 named storms and 5 hurricanes. The past month has seen drought removal in the High Plains and drought expansion and intensification from south-central Texas up towards
outlook+water: March 2019
SUMMARY: Bomb Cyclone Ulmer brought Texas record low pressures for the Panhandle and wind gusts of more than 100 mph. El Niño is still with us with sea surface temperatures projected to flirt with El Niño conditions for the rest of the year. Ulmer dropped some much-needed snow over the Rio Grande headwaters in Colorado. The bomb cyclone that swept across the continental United States the week of March 10th—named Ulmer by the Weather Channel—was