Drought Conditions Developing For Central Texas

With the recent hot and dry weather pattern that we have been seeing around Central Texas and most of the Lone Star state, drought conditions are developing and getting worse in areas to the South and West. Looking at the map to the right, we see all of Central Texas now in a slight drought with parts of Bell, Milam, and Williamson counties now in a moderate drought. Areas around Austin and San Antonio seeing a Severe Drought conditions and parts of the Hill country and the Big Bend area of Texas seeing an Extreme Drought as of now. With no good rain insight, these drought conditions will continue to get worse and spread.

The map to the right is a look at the weather pattern at the 300 millibar level or thats about 30,000 feet up in the atmosphere. This is the upper level of the atmosphere and where we look for the Jet Stream or storm track that brings weather systems across the country. I labeled the ribon of fast winds or that Jet Stream over the Northern U.S. and the Midwest. This where all the rain and active weather has been. This is why they are seeing such massive flooding up in the Midwest because of the weather pattern bringing them so much rain. If you look down near Texas, there is a big "H" I have placed where the upper level high pressure ridge continues to dominate our weather and keep most of us hot and dry. As long as this high stays around, the weather will not change much. Temperatures are running about 5 to 7 degrees above normal for this time of year and we are now in a deficit for rainfall. Earlier this spring we had plenty of rain fall to get us in the plus range but we have erased those gains and now falling behind. The last good rainfall we had here in Central Texas was back in Early May or about a month ago. Since then its been bone dry. As I look ahead, I do not see any changes in the near future with the computer models and data. Right now it looks to be a long, hot, and dry summer ahead which is not great news.

I will have more about your weather forecast coming up tonight at NBC 6 News at 10 pm. Be sure to catch your accurate and depending forecast with me then. Thanks for visiting this evening.

Take Care and Stay Cool...

Mike Griffin
NBC 6 WeatherPlus Meteorologist