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Hi everyone, and welcome to

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the Texas Water Development
Board's latest Water and Weather report.

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I'm Dr.

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Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist in the Surface
Water Division here at the agency.

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And today, we'll be taking a look
at conditions for our state over

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the last year.

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Let's take a look at some of the big water
and weather headlines in 2023.

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2023 was the hottest and 33rd driest year
for Texas since 1895.

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We began 2023 with half the area
of the state impacted by drought,

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the result of a statewide drought that
had been ongoing for more than a year.

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Drought conditions
improved early in the year,

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reaching a low of 23
percent of the state in mid-June.

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But conditions worsened over the summer
and reached a high of 86 percent

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in mid-September.

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Conditions improved in the last quarter,
and we finished the year with 39 percent

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of the state in drought.

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Impacts due
to drought have varied across the state.

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The most impacted surface water supplies
have been in Central and South Texas.

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We did end 2023 with reason for optimism.

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El Niño conditions, warmer-than-average
sea surface temperatures

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in the eastern
Equatorial Pacific, are in place,

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and as a result, continued drought
improvements are expected in early 2024.

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Let's take a closer
look at temperature and precipitation.

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On these maps,
we're looking at both parameters relative

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to what is considered normal for a year.
From a water supply perspective,

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reds, oranges,
and yellows mean trouble on both maps.

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They show areas
with above-average temperature on the left

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and below-average
precipitation on the right.

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As shown on the left,
2023 was warmer than normal everywhere

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in the state.

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In fact, it was the hottest year for Texas
since at least 1895.

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As shown on the right, precipitation was
also below normal for most of the state.

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2023 wound

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up being the 33rd driest year since 1895.

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Still, it was an improvement from 2022,

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which was the 13th driest year
during that time period.

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Let's take a closer look at drought
conditions on the landscape in 2023.

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This chart shows
how the area of the state impacted

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by drought varied
throughout the year. At the start of 2023,

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50 percent of the state was in drought.

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That receded to 23 percent by mid-June,

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but expanded again to reach 86
percent by mid-September.

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Since mid-September, drought
has been receding,

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falling to 39 percent by the end of 2023.

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As we end the year, the drought monitor
map for conditions as of December

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26 shows
39 percent of the state in drought,

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primarily in large areas of West,
Central, and East Texas.

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Let's take a closer look at how surface
water supply systems across

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the state were impacted
by the end of 2023.

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On this map, the number near each city
is the difference between surface water

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supply storage on December 31
and what is considered normal

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for this time of year
based on the last 30 years of data.

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The units are percentage points
of total system capacity.

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The red negative numbers show systems
that are below normal.

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Black positive numbers show systems
that are near or above normal.

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Throughout 2023,
the most drought-impacted water

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supplies were in Central and South Texas.

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Water supplies for Brownsville,
Laredo, Temple, Killeen, and Waco

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reached their lowest values in 30 years
during 2023.

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Conditions
in Waco returned to normal in late

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October/early November,
thanks to beneficial rains.

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But 11 of these 20 systems ended the year

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at least 10 percentage points
lower than normal.

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What might the future hold in 2024?

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There is reason for optimism.

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El Niño conditions,
warmer than average sea surface

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temperatures in the eastern
Equatorial Pacific, are in place.

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And as a result, Winter 2024
is expected to be wetter than average.

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If we can maintain average precipitation
through

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May, typically
the wettest month of the year for Texas,

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we should see significant improvements
before summer 2024.

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That concludes our report.

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Until next time, I hope you all stay healthy and safe and have a great new year.