Drought creeping back into Brazos Valley

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Ahead of our next surge of gulf moisture, a lot of us are looking back at this past week of stuffy, steamy weather and wondering, “What if?”

Well, it could always be worse! With the latest drought update, most of the Brazos Valley remains “Drought-free” but we’re getting an awful lot more color on the map these days, and may see that worsen into next week if some Easter weekend rain chances don’t pan out.

High fire danger has headlined much of this spring (in addition to severe weather) and that... — High fire danger has headlined much of this spring (in addition to severe weather) and that trend looks to continue into the second half of April.(KBTX)

Regardless, March’s rain has still done wonders for keeping us out of drought, and we’re still set up better than the entire rest of the state. Along and west of I-35, as seen below, that is clearly a different story.

Juxtaposing the Drought Monitor with the daily Fire Danger graphic produced by the Texas A&M Forest Service shows some trends. Thanks to calmer wind, we’re free from any fire weather worry today, and thanks to an increase in gulf moisture this weekend, we should continue that trend, for the most part. But it’s clear we could all use some rain across the Lone Star State.

Doesn’t look like a ton of relief is coming over the next week, but we’ll have our shots at some rain here and there through the holiday weekend and into next week.

Certainly not a drought buster, but we'll get our scattered chances for rain over the next week.(KBTX)

There’s some indications that widespread rain could be coming for the state near the end of the month, but it’s a little too early to get excited about that yet. For now, if you’re hurting for some rain, you can keep your fingers crossed for a couple downpours over the Easter weekend, or wait for that better shot by around this time next week.