HOUSTON – The latest update of the U.S. Drought Monitor came out on Thursday, May 2. It's a mix of good and bad news. The good news is that we've got a significant improvement in drought conditions in isolated areas, thanks to recent heavy rain. The bad news is that most of us in southeast Texas are still in a severe to extreme drought.
Flooding rain, to the tune of 5 to 8 inches, pounded the southern fringe of the metropolitan area from Sugar Land to southeast Houston on Saturday, April 27. As a result, this area saw a significant improvement in drought conditions. Unfortunately, though, most of the region got modest rainfall amounts and didn't see any improvement from the previous Drought Monitor update.
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Sugar Land and Hobby Airport both recorded over 6 inches of rain on the 27th. By contrast, Bush Intercontinental Airport got .26 inch, Galveston got .41 inch, and College Station got a measly .07 inch that day.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't spread the wealth!
The areas that got the soaking show up clearly on the close-up view of the Drought Monitor around the Houston area. The stripe from northeastern Fort Bend County through southern Harris County, extreme northern Brazoria County and northern Galveston County shows no drought to moderate drought. That's what a super soaking can do.
The majority of the region though, still suffers from severe to extreme drought. Washington County, Matagorda County, and extreme southern Brazoria County are the driest areas in southeast Texas.
Considering Texas as a whole, 92 percent of the state is in some form of drought. Over a third of the state is in extreme or exceptional drought.
The current forecast for Houston contains little or no rain for the next week.