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Hi everyone,

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and welcome to 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

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at conditions for our state
at the end of June.

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

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Statewide, June was wetter and warmer
than normal—the third consecutive month

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that conditions
have been wetter than normal.

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Near the end of June,

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32 percent of the state was in drought,
down 25 percentage points since late

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May and down 57 percentage points
since the end of March.

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Storage in our water supply reservoirs
ended June at 77.1

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percent of capacity, up
one percentage point from the end of May,

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but still seven percentage points
below normal for this time of year.

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Across Texas, drought conditions
are expected to expand through the end of

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September, with hope for a return
to drought contraction later in the fall.

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

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On these maps,

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we're looking at both parameters relative
to 21st century averages for June.

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From a water supply

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

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They show areas
with above-average temperature

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on the left and below-average
precipitation on the right.

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Statewide, June was wetter than normal
and near-normal for temperature—that's

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the third consecutive month that
precipitation has been more than normal.

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The eight previous months, August 2025
through March

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2026, were drier and warmer than normal.

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June conditions were favorable
for drought improvement.

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During June,

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drought contracted 25 percentage points
and covered less than a third of the state

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by the end of the month—the
tan, orange, and red areas on this map.

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Exceptional drought,
the most severe category shown in maroon

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in the legend, disappeared from the map
for the first time since July 2024.

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But as we head into summer,
about 15 percent of the state remains

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abnormally dry—shown in yellow
on the map—and depending on conditions,

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could slip back into drought
in the next few weeks.

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Statewide, surface water supplies
increased one percentage point in June.

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In this chart, the dark line shows storage
this year compared to minimum, maximum,

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and median values for the day of the year
from data going back to 1990.

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Also displayed are lighter lines
that show how we did in 2025 and 2024,

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and a red line
that shows how we did in 2011.

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June's increase was the third
consecutive monthly increase,

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but still leaves us seven percentage
points below normal for this time of year.

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What can we expect heading into summer?

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Well, it might be the end of drought
improvements for a while.

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In fact,
the National Weather Service is predicting

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drought expansion across most of the state
through the end of September.

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But looking

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a little farther out into the fall
and winter, there’s reason for optimism.

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El Niño conditions—warmer-than-normal sea
surface temperatures in the eastern

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Equatorial Pacific—are in place
and expected to persist into 2027.

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Those conditions typically bring

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Texas falls and winters that are cooler
and wetter than normal and favorable

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to get Texas back into a pattern
of drought improvement and contraction.

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That concludes our report.

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Until next time,
I hope you all stay healthy and safe.