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Dr. Mark Wentzel – Hydrologist, Texas Water Development Board

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Texas Water Development Board's latest Water and Weather report. I'm Dr. Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist at the Surface Water Division here at the agency. And today, we'll be looking at conditions for our state at the end of March. Let's take a look at some of the big water and weather headlines. Statewide, March temperatures were above normal, but precipitation was well below normal for most of the state. Near the end of March, 70 percent of the state was in drought, up 21 percentage points since late February. At the end of the month, storage in our water supply reservoirs was about 75 percent of capacity, down less than a percentage point from last month, three percentage points better than last year, but still about eight percentage points below normal for this time of year. In the next few months, drought conditions are expected to improve somewhat in South Texas but expand across the Panhandle and north Central Texas.

Let's take a closer look at temperature and precipitation. On these maps, we're looking at both parameters relative to what is considered normal for March. From a water supply perspective, reds, oranges, and yellows mean trouble on both maps. They show areas with above-average temperature on the left and below-average precipitation on the right. March temperature was warmer than normal across the state, while precipitation was well below normal for most of the state. Only South Texas, hit by torrential rains near the end of the month, and a few other scattered areas received normal or near-normal precipitation.

As a result, drought expanded 21 percentage points during the month of March. Near the end of the month, 70 percent of the state was in drought. Note this map doesn't take into account torrential rains that fell in South Texas late in the month. As a result of those rains, the first drought map released in April should show about one category of improvement in the lower Rio Grande Valley. 

Unfortunately, most of that rainfall fell too low in the watershed to provide significant inflow to water supply reservoirs. Statewide, storage in our surface water supply reservoirs was little changed during March. The dark line on this chart shows how storage this year compares to minimum, maximum, and median values for the day of the year from data going back to 1990. Also displayed are lighter lines that show how we did in 2024 and 2023 and a red line that shows how we did in 2011. During March, water supply storage decreased three-tenths of a percentage point and ended the month a little more than 75 percent of capacity. That's about three percentage points more than last year but still eight percentage points lower than normal for this time of year.

What can we expect over the next few months? Through the end of June, the National Weather Service is expecting some easing of drought severity in South Texas and no new drought areas in East Texas, but drought is expected to expand over the Panhandle and most of north Central Texas. That concludes our report. Until next time, I hope you all stay healthy and safe.