DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 1121 AM CDT FRI AUG 1 2008 ...HURRICANE DOLLY PROVIDED SOME DROUGHT RELIEF TO THE SOUTHERN COASTAL BEND AND RIO GRANDE PLAINS... ...EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE ACROSS REST OF SOUTH TEXAS... SYNOPSIS... HURRICANE DOLLY MADE LANDFALL ABOUT 80 MILES SOUTH OF CORPUS CHRISTI ON WEDNESDAY JULY 23 BRINGING WITH HER BENEFICIAL RAINS FOR SOUTH TEXAS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION. WIDESPREAD RAINFALL TOTALS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WERE OBSERVED OVER THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION...GENERALLY NORTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM LAREDO TO VICTORIA. WIDESPREAD TOTALS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES WERE OBSERVED GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM ROCKPORT TO ZAPATA. AS DOLLY MOVED WEST AND WEAKENED...AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM BECAME ANCHORED ACROSS THE REGION...BRINGING ONCE AGAIN WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS BACK TO SOUTH TEXAS. HOWEVER...DOLLY PROVIDED ENOUGH RAINFALL TO HELP ALLEVIATE THE DROUGHT SOME ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION WHERE THE BEST RAINFALL WAS OBSERVED. SOME AREAS IN THIS REGION ARE EVEN SEEING A SURPLUS IN RAINFALL FOR THE YEAR NOW. UNFORTUNATELY...ACROSS THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION WHERE LOWER RAINFALL TOTALS WERE RECEIVED...SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL DEFICITS ARE STILL BEING OBSERVED AND DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE. THE LATEST DROUGHT MONITOR PRODUCT...ISSUED ON JULY 29 2008... SHOWS THAT EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS HAVE SUBSIDED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION. AT THIS TIME... EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST NEAR AND NORTH OF A ROCKPORT TO MATHIS TO SEVEN SISTERS (IN NORTH CENTRAL DUVAL COUNTY) TO COTULLA LINE... SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST SOUTH OF THE EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS LINE AND NEAR AND NORTH OF A KINGSVILLE TO PREMONT TO OILTON (IN WESTERN WEBB COUNTY) TO ENCINAL LINE... MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST SOUTH OF THE SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS LINE AND NEAR AND NORTH OF A RIVIERA TO AGUILARES TO ASHERTON (IN CENTRAL DIMMIT COUNTY) LINE... ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS EXIST WEST OF THE MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS LINE AND NEAR AND EAST OF A LAREDO TO EXTREME NORTHWESTERN WEBB COUNTY LINE... ELSEWHERE (I.E. JUST ACROSS EXTREME WESTERN WEBB COUNTY) NO DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST. SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... STATE AND LOCAL ACTIONS. ACCORDING TO THE TEXAS FOREST SERVICE WEB SITE ON JULY 31...BURN BANS REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...WEBB...LIVE OAK...JIM WELLS...KLEBERG...NUECES AND REFUGIO. SINCE JULY 11...BURN BANS HAVE BEEN LIFTED FOR BEE AND CALHOUN COUNTIES. RESIDENTS IN THESE COUNTIES AND THE REMAINING COUNTIES NOT IN BURN BANS SHOULD CONTACT COUNTY OFFICIALS BEFORE BURNING TO ENSURE OUTDOOR BURNING IS ALLOWED FOR THEIR LOCATION. RESIDENTS SHOULD REMAIN VIGILANT WHEN DOING ANY OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WHICH INVOLVE FIRE OR SPARKS...BY MAKING SURE WATER IS QUICKLY AVAILABLE SHOULD AN UNWANTED FIRE OR SMOLDERING BEGIN. AT THIS TIME...NO WATER RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT AND NONE ARE ANTICIPATED. HOWEVER...TO CONSERVE WATER...LAWNS SHOULD BE WATERED ONLY BETWEEN 6 PM AND 10 AM AND WHEN NEEDED. WATERING LAWNS AND LANDSCAPES DURING THE LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON HOURS WASTES WATER...SINCE MOST OF IT WILL EVAPORATE AND NOT PERCOLATE INTO THE SOIL AND ROOTS. AGRICULTURAL AND SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS. THE LATEST SOIL MOISTURE ANOMALY GRAPHIC FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER SHOWS BELOW NORMAL SOIL CONDITIONS EXIST OVER MUCH SOUTH TEXAS...WITH NEAR NORMAL CONDITIONS BEGINNING TO RETURN TO SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION. THE GREATEST SOIL MOISTURE ANOMALIES CONTINUE TO EXIST OVER THE VICTORIA AREA AND NORTHEASTERN COASTAL BEND. THE LATEST CROP MOISTURE INDEX VALUES RANGE FROM AROUND -1.0 (ABNORMALLY DRY) OVER THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF SOUTH TEXAS (JIM WELLS AND LIVE OAK COUNTIES...AS WELL AS THE COUNTIES WEST OF THIS AREA)...WITH VALUES BETWEEN -3.0 TO -4.0 (SEVERELY DRY) OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA. ACCORDING TO THE JULY 30 TEXAS A & M AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM CROP AND WEATHER REPORT...THE BENEFICIAL RAINS FROM HURRICANE DOLLY ARE EXPECTED TO HELP THE FORAGES TO RECOVER WITH IMPROVED SOIL MOISTURE IN PLACE. HOWEVER...HARVESTS WERE HELD UP DUE TO THE HEAVY RAIN AND THERE WERE ALSO SOME REPORTS OF DAMAGE TO THE COTTON CROP. FIRE DANGER HAZARDS. A LOW FIRE DANGER EXISTS OVER SOUTH TEXAS. THE RECENT RAINFALL ACROSS THE AREA HAS HELPED TO ALLEVIATE THE FIRE DANGER. HOWEVER... WITH HIGH PRESSURE IN PLACE EVER SINCE DOLLY MOVED THROUGH... EVAPORATION RATES HAVE INCREASED ONCE AGAIN AND FUELS WILL CONTINUE TO DRY OUT OVER THE AREA. WILDFIRES COULD START AND SPREAD RAPIDLY...ESPECIALLY IF HUMAN NEGLIGENCE IS INVOLVED. DAYTIME WINDS CAN BE BRISK AND GUSTY AT TIMES AS THE SEA BREEZE MOVES INLAND...AND THIS WILL ENHANCE THE FIRE DANGER ESPECIALLY WHEN WIND GUSTS ARE FREQUENT. THE LATEST KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDICES CONTINUED TO INDICATE DRY FUELS OVER MUCH OF SOUTH TEXAS... WITH AVERAGE VALUES BETWEEN 600 AND 700 OVER REFUGIO COUNTY. ACROSS WEBB...LASALLE...VICTORIA...CALHOUN AND ARANSAS COUNTIES VALUES RANGED FROM 500 TO 600. AVERAGE VALUES BETWEEN 400 AND 500 WERE OBSERVED OVER DUVAL...MCMULLEN...BEE AND GOLIAD COUNTIES. ACROSS JIM WELLS...LIVE OAK AND SAN PATRICIO COUNTIES VALUES RANGED FROM 300 TO 400. KLEBERG AND NUECES COUNTIES HAD THE LOWEST VALUES WITH VALUES OF 200 TO 300 OBSERVED IN NUECES COUNTY AND LESS THAN 200 IN KLEBERG COUNTY. RIVER AND HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS. WATER USAGE DECREASED SOME AS DOLLY PROVIDED SOME MUCH NEEDED RAIN. HOWEVER...WATER USAGE SHOULD BEGIN TO INCREASE ONCE AGAIN AS DRY CONDITIONS HAVE RETURNED TO SOUTH TEXAS. THIS WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN THE MAIN IMPACT OF THE CURRENT DROUGHT SITUATION...AS ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND DRY CONDITIONS (ALONG WITH HIGH EVAPORATION RATES) HAVE ITS EFFECT ON THE WATER SUPPLY. STILL...RESERVOIR LEVELS ARE NOT CRITICALLY LOW...BUT LEVELS ARE GENERALLY DECREASING. RIVER LEVELS REMAIN NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL STAGES. AS OF JULY 31...THE LEVEL AT CHOKE CANYON DAM WAS 217.6 FEET (89.5 PERCENT CAPACITY)...WITH LAKE CORPUS CHRISTI AT 91.2 FEET (80.7 PERCENT CAPACITY). THE COMBINED SYSTEM CAPACITY NOW STANDS AT 87.1 PERCENT...WHICH IS 0.7 PERCENTAGE POINTS LOWER THAN ON JULY 11. LAKE AMISTAD ROSE SLIGHTLY...WITH THE LATEST LEVEL AT 1099.0 FEET (ABOUT 68 PERCENT CAPACITY)...OR 0.5 FEET HIGHER THAN ON JULY 11. COLETO CREEK RESERVOIR FELL ABOUT 0.7 FEET...WITH THE TODAY`S LEVEL AT 95.6 FEET. CLIMATE SUMMARY... THE BENEFICIAL RAINFALL FROM HURRICANE DOLLY HAS HELPED TO ALLEVIATE THE RAINFALL DEFICITS ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTH TEXAS...WITH SOME LOCATIONS NOW EVEN SHOWING A SURPLUS OF RAINFALL FOR THE YEAR. A RAINFALL SURPLUS OF 1.00 INCHES EXISTS AT CORPUS CHRISTI FOR 2008. HOWEVER...THE DEFICIT HAS INCREASED AT VICTORIA WITH A DEFICIT NOW OF 9.64 INCHES. THE RAINFALL DEFICIT IS NOW NEAR 6.5 INCHES FOR 2008 AT LAREDO. DEFICITS ARE EVEN HIGHER SINCE THE FALL OF 2007 WHEN A MUCH DRIER WEATHER PATTERN BEGAN TO TAKE HOLD OF THE REGION. PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOKS... UNFORTUNATELY THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS LOOK TO REMAIN DRY AS AN UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE REMAINS ANCHORED OVER SOUTH TEXAS. AN INVERTED TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE AREA TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION EXPECTED DURING THIS TIME FRAME...MAINLY ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE HYDROLOGIC SERVICE AREA. THE EIGHT TO 14 DAY OUTLOOK FROM AUGUST 7 THROUGH AUGUST 13 SHOWS A HIGHER PROBABILITY FOR BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL AND NEAR NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THE LATEST U.S. DROUGHT OUTLOOK PRODUCT...ISSUED ON JULY 17...INDICATES THAT DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY TO IMPROVE AND THE IMPACTS SHOULD CONTINUE TO EASE OVER THE THE HYDROLOGIC SERVICE AREA. FINALLY... THE SOIL MOISTURE OUTLOOK THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER EXPECTS NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL SOIL CONDITIONS. NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT IS EXPECTED TO BE ISSUED ON OR SHORTLY AFTER AUGUST 14. RELATED WEB SITES...
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR (INCLUDES DROUGHT AND SOIL MOISTURE OUTLOOKS... DROUGHT ARCHIVES AND TEMPERATURE/RAINFALL OUTLOOKS)...
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR (INCLUDES ONLY TEXAS)...
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/dm_state.htm?tx,s
TEXAS DROUGHT MONITORING SITE...
http://www.txwin.net/monitoring/meteorological/drought/indices.htm
NOAA DROUGHT PAGE...
http://www.drought.noaa.gov/
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
AGNEWS: TEXAS A & M AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM (CROP AND WEATHER REPORT)...
http://agnews.tamu.edu/
TEXAS INTERAGENCY COORDINATION CENTER (TICC)...
http://www.tamu.edu/ticc/
TEXAS BURN BANS...
http://tfsfrp.tamu.edu/wildfires/decban.png
TEXAS KBDI...
http://webgis.tamu.edu/tfs/kbdi_daily/kbdicounty.png
ADDITIONAL RIVER INFORMATION...
NWS.... http://www.weather.gov/water/
USGS... http://water.usgs.gov/ 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...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 300 PINSON DRIVE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 78406 PHONE: 361-289-0959 SR-CRP.webmaster@noaa.gov KRR