Drought Information Statement for South Central Texas Valid December 5, 2024 Issued By: NWS Austin/San Antonio Contact Information: sr-ewx.webmaster@noaa.gov This product will be updated January 2, 2025 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. Needed rainfall occurred earlier this week, but will do little to alleviate drought across the region. Reservoir levels and streamflows across the service area remain rather low. Monthly outlook for December leans towards drought remaining, but improving. U.S. Drought Monitor Drought intensity and Extent D3 (Extreme Drought): Covers portions of the Edwards Plateau and I-35 Corridor Percent of Area: 18.06% D2 (Severe Drought): Extends across the portions of the Hill Country, Edwards Plateau, I-35 Corridor, and Coastal Plains Percent of Area: 35.92% D1 (Moderate Drought): Encompasses the Coastal Plains, and portions of the Hill Country, Southern Edwards Plateau, and Rio Grande Plains Percent of Area: 44.19% Recent Change in Drought Intensity Four Week Drought Monitor Class Change. Drought Worsened: primarily over the Rio Grande Plains and Edward Plateau. No Change: Portions of the Rio Grande Plains, Edwards Plateau, Hill Country, and I-35 Corridor. Drought Improved: primarily over the Coastal Plains. Precipitation Below normal rainfall was seen over most of the service area. However, some locations in the Rio Grande Plains, Edwards Plateau, Hill Country, and I-35 Corridor saw above normal rainfall. Temperature Summarize conditions/impacts here Summary of Impacts Hydrologic Impacts Nearly all watersheds across the service area fall within either the below normal to well-below normal percentile classification despite early December and recent November rains. (USGS) Area reservoirs remain extremely low across the service area. See next page for more details Agricultural Impacts Please see the latest Crop & Weather Report from Texas A&M Agrilife Soil moistures across the service area are shown in the normal to below normal range. (NWS Climate Prediction Center) Fire Hazard Impacts Normal wildland fire activity is forecast through the month of November. This activity is expected to increase in the months of December and January. (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 12/4/2024) 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 1051.11 feet 26.6% Medina Lake 1064.2 feet 972.75 feet 2.8% Canyon Lake 909.00 feet 881.46 feet 51.2% Granger Lake 504.00 feet 503.00 feet 92.3% Georgetown Lake 791.00 feet 779.03 feet 63.8% Lake Buchanan 1020.00 feet 1004.41 feet 63.4% Lake LBJ 825.00 feet 824.76 feet 98.6% Lake Marble Falls 738.00 feet 736.31 feet 94.5% Lake Travis 681.00 feet 638.20 feet 44.1% Lake Austin 492.9 feet 492.20 feet 96.1% Nearly all watersheds across the service area fall within either the below normal to well-below normal percentile classification despite early December and recent November rains. Additional data: Edwards Aquifer, Bexar Index Well J-17 as of December 4, 2024: 10 day average: 627.3 Historical Monthly Average: 667.5 Departure from Average: -41.6 Agricultural Impacts Soil moistures across the service area are shown in the below to well below normal range as of December 3rd. Crop moisture index values show severely dry conditions across all of our service area as of October 26th. Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch Byram Drought Index values of 200 to 400 range across a narrow strip of the Rio Grande Plains into portions of the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country from recent rains. Values range between 500 and 800 across a majority of the service area Near normal wildland fire potential is expected for December Burn bans remain for 29 of our 33 counties as of December 4, 2024. Latest County Burn Ban map available here. Long-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The temperature outlook for the month of December leans towards above normal for the entire service area. The precipitation outlook leans towards near normal rainfall for most of the service area. Drought Outlook The monthly drought outlook for December shows drought persisting for most of the service area, with some improvement over portions of the area. The three month outlook shows drought persisting through February for the entire service area. The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage