National Weather Service Text Product Display

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS
Versions: 1 2 3 4
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AXUS74 KLUB 301739
DGTLUB
TXC017-045-069-075-079-101-107-125-153-169-189-191-219-263-269-
279-303-305-345-369-433-437-445-501-071745-

Drought Information Statement
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
1239 PM CDT Fri Apr 30 2021

...Locations on the Caprock continue to see Extreme to
Exceptional Drought Levels while an area of extreme drought has
developed in King and Dickens Counties as well. Some improvement
was noted in the Southeast Texas Panhandle...

.SYNOPSIS including Drought intensity and precipitation:

The latest US Drought Monitor product indicated widespread
Moderate (D1) to Severe Drought (D2) across the Rolling Plains
and eastern South Plains. Extreme (D3) to Exceptional Drought (D4)
remained mainly along and west of the I-27 and US 87 highway
corridors with an additional patch of extreme (D3) conditions in
Dickens and King Counties. An area of no drought was reported
across the extreme southeast Texas Panhandle which was in minor
drought at the time of the last statement.

A prolonged cool and moist period occurred from April 13th through
the 16th. Significant rainfall occurred across the Rolling Plains
and southeast Texas Panhandle where widespread reports of
0.5"-1.5" occurred. Farther west most locations only saw up to a
tenth of an inch during this period. Isolated severe storms
developed on April 23rd across the extreme southeastern Texas
Panhandle where numerous hail reports were received however
rainfall amounts were not widespread. As an upper level low
approached the area additional isolated severe storms and more
widespread heavy rainfall occurred from the 27th through the 29th
however this activity was not considered for the drought monitor
map issued on April 29th. Most of the southern half of the
forecast area saw around a half an inch with locations across the
southeast Rolling Plains in excess of two inches.

.Agricultural Impacts:

Although rain did fall over many areas, more is needed. Much of
the South Plains continues to report short to very short subsoil
surface moisture which is hampering planting season however the
late April rains should have led to at least slight improvements
in the soil moisture. Cattle were reported to be in good
condition as recent rains allow for winter wheat grazing. This
information was provided from the Texas A&M Agrilife Today Texas
Crop and Weather Report.

.Fire Weather Impacts:

With the recent rains, fuel green ups continue to be noted across
much of the region. Although, locations in extreme to exceptional
drought on the Caprock continue to only have limited fuel green
up. Fuel loads in this region are near to below normal which has
helped to mitigate the potential for large fires. The potential
for elevated to critical fire weather patterns to develop are
expected to continue into at least the late spring.

.LOCAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK:

La Nina is expected to continue weakening and favor neutral
conditions by late spring through the Summer. Unfortunately,
seasonal forecasts continue to favor above normal temperatures
and below normal precipitation through this Summer.

.Hydrologic conditions:

Soil moisture levels have shown improvement for those regions
that continue to receive the heaviest rainfall especially across
the Rolling Plains and extreme southeast Texas Panhandle. But soil
moisture levels remained very low over the western South Plains
despite the beneficial late April rainfall. With the expected
increase in water usage due to the warmer weather area reservoirs
should continue to see gradual declines unless some heavy May
rains can occur.

The following reservoir conditions were reported April 30th:

RESERVOIR SUMMARY CONSERVATION POOL  1 MONTH  MAXIMUM PERCENT of
                      POOL    TODAY  CHANGE   DEPTH  CONSERVATION
                                              (feet)  CAPACITY
Mackenzie Lake        3100    3013.1  -0.4       63        9
White River Lake      2370    2347.3  -0.2       20       12
Lake Alan Henry       2220    2214.2  -0.5       71       85
Lake Meredith         2936    2885.3  -0.3       72       35

.NEXT ISSUANCE DATE:

This product will be updated Thursday May 27 or sooner if
drought conditions change significantly.

.RELATED WEB SITES:

Additional information on current drought conditions may be found
at the following web addresses:
US Drought Monitor: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu
US Drought Information System: https://www.drought.gov
NOAA Drought Page: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Drought
Office of the Texas State Climatologist:
http://www.climatetexas.tamu.edu

Texas Agrilife Extension Agency Crop and Weather Report:
http://today.agrilife.org

Additional water and river information:
NWS: https://water.weather.gov
OWP: https://water.noaa.gov
US Geological Survey (USGS): https://water.usgs.gov
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): https://www.usace.army.mil

.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

The drought monitor is a multi-agency effort involving the
National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center, the
USDA, State and Regional Center Climatologists, and the National
Drought Mitigation Center. Information for this statement has
been gathered from NWS and FAA observation sites, the Texas Tech
University West Texas Mesonet, State Cooperative Extension
Services, the USDA, USACE, and USGS.

.CONTACT INFORMATION:

If you have questions or comments about this Drought Information
Statement, please contact:

National Weather Service
2579 South Loop 289 Suite 100
Lubbock TX 79423
Phone...806-745-4926
lub.webmaster@noaa.gov

$$
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
