HOUSTON – The latest update of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that Houston and surrounding areas are continuing to slide into an extreme drought.
This update of the drought monitor is based on rainfall through Monday, April 1. It does not include the soaking we got late Tuesday night, April 2, when most locations got hit with one to two inches of rain.
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You might think that a good soaking like this would help us immensely, maybe even pull us out of the drought entirely. While it is true that a couple of inches of rain is helpful during a severe drought, it doesn't erase the problem.
Considering the big picture that 1- to 2-inches is a drop in the bucket next to the hole we're in. We've been abnormally dry in Houston since September. In the past seven months we've gotten about 50 percent of our normal rainfall. At George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the official climate reporting station for the city of Houston, we're 16 inches of rain below normal since September and seven inches below normal so far in 2013.
It'll take more frequent soakings to turn the tide on our recent slide into what many fear will be a repeat of 2011's devastating drought.