TYLER, Texas — A year that started off with plenty of rainfall for East Texas took a dry turn over the month of July, which is now continuing into August and September. That lack of rainfall has prompted the United States Drought Monitor, a product created in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) to classify portions of East Texas as being in a moderate drought, while many locations are seeing abnormally dry conditions.
These conditions are expected to stay the same or get worse over the next week, as only minimal chances for rain are in the forecast.
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How Did We Get Here?
Many East Texans can easily think back to the heavy rainfall and flooding we had earlier this year and wonder how have things changed. Well that change has almost exclusively happened in the last two to three months. Tyler and Longview, with the exceptions of March for Tyler and March and February for Longview, spent every month this year until July with above average rainfall. In fact the month of April brought 7.46 inches of above normal rainfall to Tyler, and May brought 7.12 inches of above normal rainfall to Longview.
Lufkin was somewhat different, with January, April, and May coming in above normal, with the highest departure being 2.25 inches above normal in April.
July and August is where things dried out. Tyler was down 1.79 inches in July and was down 2.57 inches for August. Longview was down 1.01 inches in July and 2.99 inches for August. Lufkin was down 1.47 inches in July, and was actually up 0.44 inches for August. (You can thank the hit and miss nature of summer storms.)
Heading into September Tyler is down 0.49 inches, Longview is down 0.10 inches, and Lufkin is down 0.56 inches.
Even though Tyler remains up for 2019 by 7.11 inches and Longview remains up by 5.94 inches, the short term conditions have headed into abnormally dry to drought territory. Lufkin is down on the year by 3.05 inches, but has seen more rainfall than other areas in the short term, thus avoiding abnormally dry conditions for now.
You can see the current drought conditions in the map below.
Let's compare this to two weeks ago.
As you can see rain last week really beat back the abnormally dry conditions. It also removed moderate drought conditions from Hopkins and Van Zandt Counties. However those that missed out are now dealing with moderate drought. With little rain in the forecast ahead, it would not be surprising to see these areas of dryness and drought expand in the next week.
Burn Bans:
As a result of the dry weather many counties around the state of Texas are now under Burn Bans. This includes Gregg, Rusk, Upshur, Marion, Harrison, Henderson, Anderson, Houston, and Trinity Counties. More counties could be added to this list in the days ahead. This would be especially likely for counties experiencing moderate drought conditions, such as Smith, Cass, Camp, Morris, Titus, and Cherokee.
Statewide:
It's not just our area either, Texas is dealing with dry conditions across the state. As of today, only 33.59% of the state is normal with their moisture conditions. 23.51% of the state is abnormally dry, 32.64% is in a moderate drought, 8.53% is in a severe drought, and 1.73% is in an extreme drought. Thankfully exceptional drought conditions are not present in the state as of this time.
See the statewide map below.
Comparing this to two weeks ago we see some interesting changes.
Overall more of the state is now back to normal conditions and less of the region is abnormally dry. However, more of the state is now also in moderate, severe, and extreme drought conditions. We will have to wait and see how moisture brought into the region from Tropical Storm Fernand changes conditions over extreme southern portions of the state.
With only small chances for rain in the coming forecast for East Texas, things are likely get worse before they get better. Make sure you stay with CBS 19 for the latest, and as always, be careful when dealing with fire or sources of heat near dry vegetation.
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