(upbeat music)
[Dr. Mark Wentzel] Hi everyone, and welcome to
the Texas Water Development Board's
latest Water and Weather Report.
I'm Dr. Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist here at the agency.
And today we'll be taking a look at conditions
for our state at the end of February 2021.
Let's take a look at some of
the big water and weather headlines.
Most noteworthy, February brought unusual amounts
of snow and cold to Texas.
Despite the snow and cold, drought conditions expanded
and now cover 51 percent of the state.
Statewide storage in our water supply reservoirs
is at 82 percent of capacity,
about three and a half percentage points
less than normal for this time of year.
And La Niña conditions,
which are at least partially responsible
for drought in Texas,
are expected to continue through April,
but dissipate later in the year.
Let's take a closer look at the snow and cold
Texas experienced in mid-February.
At that time, a polar vortex,
a large mass of cold air from the Arctic,
traveled south across Canada and the Central U.S.
When that cold air made its way to Texas,
it brought record low temperatures and snowfall.
In degrees Fahrenheit, record daily lows
ranged from 22 degrees in Brownsville
to the minus teens in the Panhandle.
The low temperatures also triggered snowfall
across the state.
Many locations, including Abilene with 14.8 inches
and Del Rio with 11.2,
set records for snowfall on a single day.
Though it didn't linger on the ground,
snow fell in Brownsville
for only the second time since 1898.
At its peak coverage on February 16,
more than 80 percent of the state had snow on the ground.
Unfortunately, all that snow
didn't translate to drought relief.
Why? Because it's mostly air.
It takes 10 to 12 or more inches of fresh snow
to produce one inch of moisture.
In the end, despite the snow,
most of the state--the areas in orange and red on
this map--received less than half
of average precipitation for February.
Only a few scattered areas shown in green and blue
received average or better precipitation.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map for conditions
as of February 23 shows that drought is expanding.
January brought a 37- percentage-point decrease
in the area of the state impacted by drought.
February brought a nearly seven- percentage-point increase.
Only relatively cool temperatures kept drought
from expanding even more.
At the end of February,
drought covers just over half the state.
What are the chances for improved precipitation
for Texas in the next few months?
Not very good.
And despite the cold weather in February,
temperatures are expected to bounce back
above seasonal averages as well.
As a result, the latest seasonal outlook
from the National Weather Service
anticipates drought expansion across all
but the eastern edge of the state by the end of May.
Looking a little farther out, there is some good news.
La Niña conditions that are at least partially responsible
for drought in Texas are expected to dissipate after April.
That concludes our report.
Until next time, I hope you all stay healthy and safe.