Drought Information Statement for South Central Texas Valid August 1, 2024 Issued By: NWS Austin/San Antonio Contact Information: sr-ewx.webmaster@noaa.gov This product will be updated September 5, 2024 or sooner if drought conditions change significantly. Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/ewx/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. Please visit https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/ for regional drought status updates. Widespread improvement in drought conditions over the past 30 days Reservoir levels across the service area saw some improvement while overall water storage remains low Monthly outlooks show hot temperatures with a much of the area having equal chances of above, below, or near normal rainfall chances for the month of August 1 U.S. Drought Monitor Drought intensity and Extent D3 (Extreme Drought): Covers portions of the Hill Country Percent of Area: 1.70% D2 (Severe Drought): Extends across the portions of the Hill Country, southern Edwards Plateau, and Rio Grande Plains Percent of Area: 17.49% No Drought or D0 (Abnormally Dry): Encompasses the Coastal Plains, and portions of the Hill Country, Southern Edwards Plateau, I-35 corridor, and Rio Grande Plains Percent of Area: 57.52% Link to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor for south central Texas https://storage.googleapis.com/noaa-nidis-drought-gov-data/current-conditions/nws-dgt-images/nws-u.s.-drought-monitor-southern.png Recent Change in Drought Intensity Link to the latest 4-week change map for south central Texas Four Week Drought Monitor Class Change. Drought Worsened: only a small portion of the Winter Garden saw drought conditions worsen No Change: portions of the I-35 corridor, Hill Country, southern Edwards Plateau, and Rio Grande Plains Drought Improved: The greatest improvement occurred over the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country where categories improved by 2 to 3 classes. Improvement also occurred over parts of the I-35 corridor Precipitation Links to the latest Precipitation Accumulation and Percent of Normal over the past 30 days Much of the area saw above normal rainfall over the past 30 days The bulk of this rainfall occurred during two rounds of rainfall; July 6th, and July 22-29th. Portions of the Hill Country and southern Edwards Plateau saw greater than 300% of normal rainfall over the past 30 days Only a small portion of the Winter Garden saw below normal rainfall over the past 30 days Temperature Summarize conditions/impacts here Summary of Impacts Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Late month rainfall helped to provide some short term improvement in streamflows along the Colorado and Llano River basins (USGS) Unfortunately, the longer running rainfall deficits continue to prevent significant improvement the much of the service area’s river basins where most are either in the below or much below normal range for this time of year (USGS) Medina Lake is now at 2.3 percent capacity, Amistad is 24% capacity, and Canyon Lake has returned to setting daily record low elevations See next page for more details Agricultural Impacts Please see the latest Crop & Weather Report from Texas A&M Agrilife Despite some moisture from Tropical Storm Alberto, soil moistures have dropped to well below normal across the entire service area due to numerous hot and dry days (NWS Climate Prediction Center) Fire Hazard Impacts Normal wildland fire activity is forecast through the month of July (National Interagency Coordination Center) See Fire Hazard page for more details Drought Mitigation Actions Please refer to your municipality and/or water provider for mitigation information. Select Municipality Restrictions (as of 7/3/2024) City of Uvalde: Stage 5 City of Fredericksburg: Stage 4 City of Kerrville: Stage 3 City of San Antonio: Stage 3 City of Universal City: Stage 3 City of Georgetown: Stage 2 City of New Braunfels: Stage 2 City of Austin: Stage 2 City of Del Rio: Stage 2 City of Llano: Stage 2 Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts Reservoir Pool Elevation Current Elevation Percent Full Amistad 1117.00 feet 1048.77 feet 25.0% Medina Lake 1064.2 feet 975.95 feet 3.6% Canyon Lake 909.00 feet 885.95 feet 57.7% Granger Lake 504.00 feet 505.71 feet 100% Georgetown Lake 791.00 feet 785.24 feet 81.4% Lake Buchanan 1020.00 feet 1007.17 feet 72.9% Lake LBJ 825.00 feet 824.76 feet 98.6% Lake Marble Falls 738.00 feet 736.33 feet 94.7% Lake Travis 681.00 feet 641.97 feet 40.6% Lake Austin 492.9 feet 492.20 feet 96.1% Figure Caption: USGS 7 day streamflows for Texas, valid July 31, 2024 Table caption: TWDB Reservoir conditions as of August 1, 2024 Many river basins across the service area continue to show near or above normal flows from the late July rainfall. The Frio River, Rio Grande, Sabinal, and Devils River basins are the only streams which show below normal flows on the 7-day historically average streamflow map. Many of the drought stricken reservoirs across the service area observed a response from the July rainfall. Lake Travis rose over 7 feet Canyon Lake rose over a foot Medina Lake rose 6 feet. Amistad Lake rose over a foot Additional data: Edwards Aquifer, Bexar Index Well J-17 as of August 1, 2024: 10 day average: 635.9 Historical Monthly Average: 657.3 Departure from Average: -21.1 Agricultural Impacts Links to the latest Soil Moisture Ranking Percentile and Crop Moisture Index by Division. With the ample rainfall over the past 30 days, soil moisture went from well below normal to normal moisture across the entire service area Crop moisture index values show excessively dry across the western most climate zone to normally dry across the remaining two climate zones within our service area Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch Byram Drought Index values have dropped into the 0 to 200 range across the Hill Country Values range between 400 and 600 over portions of the southern Edwards Plateau and Rio Grande Plains Normal wildland fire activity is forecast through the month of August Burn bans remain for 9 of our 33 counties as of August 1, 2024. Latest County Burn Ban map available here. Link to Wildfire Potential Outlooks from the National Interagency Coordination Center. Seven Day Precipitation Forecast No rainfall is forecast in south-central TX over the coming week. Rapid Onset Drought Outlook Continued hot temperatures and a lack of rainfall over the next 1-2 weeks will lead to continued Rapid Onset Drought impacts in south-central Texas. Links to the latest Climate Prediction Center 8 to 14 day Temperature Outlook and Precipitation Outlook. Long-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The temperature outlook for the month of August lean towards above normal for much of the service area The precipitation outlook shows equal chances for above, below, or near normal chances for the month of July across much of the service area There is a leaning towards below normal chances for portions of the Hill Country and I-35 Corridor. There is a slight leaning towards above normal rainfall for portions of the Coastal Plains, Rio Grande Plains, and Winter Garden Drought Outlook Drought conditions are forecast to persist across portions of the southern Edwards Plateau, Rio Grande Plains, I-35 Corridor, and Hill Country through the month of August The three month outlook mirrors the monthly outlook with no drought improvement shown through October Links to the latest: Climate Prediction Center Monthly Drought Outlook Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage