“Drought-free” area shrinking across the Brazos Valley

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - The little rain we saw last week was not enough to keep dry conditions from expanding over the area.

This week’s US Drought Monitor expands the “Moderate Drought” over southwestern portions of the Brazos Valley, and even brings “Severe Drought” into Austin and Waller counties.

Despite expanding drought, our area is still among the least drought-ridden across the state at present. However, noticeable improvement has come over parts of Central Texas and the Panhandle, where desperately needed rain has alleviated the “Extreme” and “Exceptional” spots that they have seen for most of the year.

Improvements in some spots across Texas, but most of the Brazos Valley has been dry to start... — Improvements in some spots across Texas, but most of the Brazos Valley has been dry to start the month of June.(KBTX)

The past three months have seen improvement across most of the Panhandle, especially along and east of a line from Lubbock to Amarillo. We’ve also seen noted improvement across North and Northeast Texas, while the Brazos Valley has “flipped” its drought from the northeastern to southwestern areas.

Overall, most of the state of Texas could use some rain. The next week will likely bring little to no relief for most of the state, though continued drought improvement may come with storms that ride along a high pressure belt from the Panhandle into Northeast Texas. Longer term, we may allow for some deeper gulf moisture to give locally scattered storms by mid/late month.