The good news, however, was the forecast for an El Niño episode in fall and winter 2009-2010. A sharp line running through the Edwards Plateau separated nearly normal conditions in much of the northern and western portion of the Plateau and in north and west Texas from the severe to exceptional drought that gripped the southern and eastern parts of the Plateau and all of south Texas: In the first half of 2009, the worst of the drought shifted and expanded into south Texas, with some relief in north-central Texas, but intensification in south Texas. There was a brief period of some relief in summer 2008 in parts of central Texas, when our rainfall was a little closer to normal, but then a return to La Niña conditions, as well as a return to severe drought by late 2008 and the first half of 2009 (as monitored by the National Drought Mitigation Center): These 2007-2009 La Niña conditions resulted in a return to our dry weather pattern for the latter part of 2007 through the first half of 2009. Sea surface temperatures from the Pacific presented by the NOAA/National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center (in particular, notice the negative deviations in the critical El Niño 3.4 region throughout most of 2008 and early 2009): Most of Texas showed far more vegetative growth than usual in the spring and summer of 2007, and the areas in eastern Texas that are not green on this map were under heavy cloud cover when the satellite data for this image were collected.ĭuring the latter half of 2007, we returned to La Niña conditions, and they continued throughout 2008 and the first five months of 2009, as seen in this summary of This map from the National Weather Service shows the rainfall (as a percent of normal) for 1 January to 21 August 2007:Īll this rain stimulated substantial vegetative growth, as seen in this NASA map of vegetative growth in June of 2007: After the rains in the first half of 2007, the entire state was free of drought, with many areas experiencing record rainfall. In August 2006, over 90% of Texas was in one of the drought categories, with 73% of the state in severe, extreme, or exceptional drought. We had a wet early half of 2007, which pulled us out of the 2005-2006 drought, as seen in these maps from the National Drought Mitigation Center: To keep climbing for the remainder of 2006, suggesting moderate El NiñoĬonditions developing in late 2006 and early 2007, and therefore forecasting an end to the severe 2005-2006 drought. Was climbing out of the negative territory it had been in since fall 2005 When I first wrote this article, in summer 2006, the ONI More recent updates follow the original article. Of the Double Helix Ranch, Mason County, Texas," by David M. Of the Double Helix Ranch, Mason County, TexasĢ006-2013 updates for the article " Rainfall patterns at the Fly Gap Division Rainfall totals are given for the past 7, 10, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days up to the current date, as well as the total for the current month, year, and previous year.Rainfall patterns at the Fly Gap Division The Recent Rainfall table shows the total rainfall (in inches) for each Mesonet site. Add estimated values Mesonet Rainfall Totals (in inches)ĭata complete through 7:00 pm CDT JStation Name
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