Lots of rain for Houston this week: Did it make a dent in our drought?

Drought conditions for Texas (KPRC2 2023)

Intense rain this week:

Below is an official list from the National Weather Service of the highest rainfall totals per county from Monday through Thursday morning. With most of the area seeing at least a half a foot of rain and in some cases, more than a foot, it begs the question: Did all this heavy rain improve our current drought status?

Rainfall totals per county (2023 KPRC2)

Well ... Did it?

The answer is a little complicated. Short answer: Yes, it did. However, because the drought monitor is only produced once a week, the cut-off time is Tuesday morning at 6am. So the following graphics show how dry we were after a historically HOT and dry summer.

Drought comparison - 3 months (2023 KPRC2)

In our El Nino winter, weโ€™ve seen multiple waves of wet weather, this weekโ€™s being the heaviest, that have helped to put significant dents in our ongoing drought. In fact, there are large chunks of the state of Texas that have also seen a lot of rain, thus helping drought conditions in areas that were in extreme drought situations.

Drought conditions for Texas (KPRC2 2023)

Next week, weโ€™ll be able to see how the rest of this weekโ€™s rainfall has helped to lessen drought conditions. For now, weโ€™re in for a really nice weekend with plenty of sunshine and time to finally dry out! Be sure to have the Stormtracker 2 app downloaded on your phone for real-time updates and flood conditions in your neighborhood!

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