1 00:00:07,339 --> 00:00:08,780 Happy new year, everyone, and 2 00:00:08,780 --> 00:00:12,333 welcome to the Texas Water Development Board's latest Water and Weather report. 3 00:00:12,534 --> 00:00:13,037 I'm Dr. 4 00:00:13,037 --> 00:00:16,522 Mark Wenzel, hydrologist in the Surface Water Division at the agency. 5 00:00:16,924 --> 00:00:19,806 And today, we're going to take a look back at drought conditions 6 00:00:19,806 --> 00:00:22,923 in 2022 and a look forward to 2023. 7 00:00:23,359 --> 00:00:25,403 One of the big stories of 2022 8 00:00:25,403 --> 00:00:28,084 was the drought that we experienced across the state. 9 00:00:28,587 --> 00:00:31,670 It wasn't as bad as 2011, 10 00:00:31,804 --> 00:00:35,659 but it was the worst drought statewide since 2011. 11 00:00:36,195 --> 00:00:39,278 2011, of course, was notorious as the worst one-year 12 00:00:39,278 --> 00:00:42,529 drought in Texas history. 13 00:00:42,529 --> 00:00:47,154 So, 2022 wasn't quite that bad, but at least through the first 14 00:00:47,154 --> 00:00:50,371 seven months of the year, precipitation in 2022 15 00:00:50,371 --> 00:00:53,957 was tracking really close to 2011. 16 00:00:54,125 --> 00:00:57,443 That, of course, was having an impact on our water supply reservoirs. 17 00:00:57,879 --> 00:01:02,168 Typically, we get a little bit of recovery in our water supply reservoirs 18 00:01:02,168 --> 00:01:05,319 in April, May, June, 19 00:01:05,386 --> 00:01:08,000 as we expect more precipitation in those months. 20 00:01:08,737 --> 00:01:13,932 We didn't quite see that much of a recovery this year in 2022. 21 00:01:13,932 --> 00:01:18,423 In August of 2022, we did get some relief in parts of the state. 22 00:01:19,093 --> 00:01:22,143 The Dallas area, for instance, experienced its second 23 00:01:22,143 --> 00:01:27,103 wettest August on record, and, actually, a little 24 00:01:27,103 --> 00:01:31,594 too much rainfall too quickly caused some flooding problems in that area. 25 00:01:31,996 --> 00:01:35,951 But it did bring some relief in terms of rainfall deficits. 26 00:01:36,152 --> 00:01:41,548 And that continued for Dallas through the second half of the year. 27 00:01:41,581 --> 00:01:46,307 They ended the year within one or two inches of the total 28 00:01:46,474 --> 00:01:49,624 annual rainfall amount of what's considered normal for that area. 29 00:01:50,060 --> 00:01:54,350 On the other side of things, the San Antonio area is kind 30 00:01:54,350 --> 00:01:59,176 of the poster child for continuation of drought in 2022. 31 00:01:59,176 --> 00:02:03,298 And heading into 2023, they've experienced rainfall 32 00:02:03,298 --> 00:02:07,789 deficits as much as 20 inches from below 33 00:02:07,789 --> 00:02:11,911 what they would expect normal rainfall to be during the year. 34 00:02:11,911 --> 00:02:16,101 That has kind of covered the area in extreme and exceptional drought. 35 00:02:16,670 --> 00:02:21,932 They're actually experiencing conditions a little bit worse than in 2011. 36 00:02:21,932 --> 00:02:24,010 That, of course, had an impact on 37 00:02:24,982 --> 00:02:27,160 water resources in the area. 38 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:32,221 Lake Medina is within a few percentage points of the worst conditions 39 00:02:32,221 --> 00:02:35,070 that it experienced in the 2011-2014 drought. 40 00:02:35,371 --> 00:02:39,024 The Edwards Aquifer in the area of San Antonio is also in stage 41 00:02:39,024 --> 00:02:44,822 three drought restrictions, and they are experiencing the worst 42 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,844 aquifer conditions there since the 2011-2014 drought. 43 00:02:49,514 --> 00:02:51,726 So what can we expect in the new year? 44 00:02:52,531 --> 00:02:55,781 One of the driving forces behind the drought conditions 45 00:02:55,781 --> 00:03:00,239 we experienced in 2022 was the La Niña conditions 46 00:03:00,540 --> 00:03:06,003 of the equatorial Pacific, that generally result in reduced 47 00:03:06,003 --> 00:03:09,958 rainfall and warmer conditions during the Texas winter. 48 00:03:10,226 --> 00:03:15,186 2022 was the third consecutive winter that we had those conditions. 49 00:03:15,387 --> 00:03:18,303 The National Weather Service is expecting that 50 00:03:18,940 --> 00:03:21,353 La Niña will dissipate, 51 00:03:21,353 --> 00:03:25,509 and then, possibly by the summer to next fall, 52 00:03:25,509 --> 00:03:30,636 we might actually be in El Niño conditions, the opposite to La Niña. 53 00:03:30,636 --> 00:03:33,049 And those conditions actually bring Texas 54 00:03:33,921 --> 00:03:38,311 a wetter and cooler winter than is normal. 55 00:03:39,015 --> 00:03:43,271 So, we hope to have some relief by the spring, 56 00:03:44,377 --> 00:03:46,187 and it may not be sufficient 57 00:03:46,187 --> 00:03:49,773 to get us out of drought, but we do expect that there'll be some 58 00:03:50,845 --> 00:03:53,493 easing of drought conditions this spring. 59 00:03:53,996 --> 00:03:58,084 And then possibly next fall and winter, we could see 60 00:03:59,056 --> 00:04:01,101 drought removal in the state. 61 00:04:01,101 --> 00:04:03,614 That concludes our look back at 2022. 62 00:04:03,648 --> 00:04:06,128 Until next time, I hope you all stay healthy and safe.