In this case, we can feel really good about the people and mom’s in Texas today.
Why?
A huge dent was made in the drought there over the past seven days there. Below is the radar-derived rainfall (its not from rain gauges) for just one week ending yesterday in the US, courtesy of WSI Intellicast, one of the writer’s favorite weather sites. Check out the amounts in Texas! Some locales (those yellowish areas) have received between 8 and 16 inches of rain for those seven days! Imagine how good those folks feel in view of all the sad droughty, hot days they have endured over the past 12 months! There has been drought relief, too, in southeast New Mexico. This map, BTW, also still has our little rain event here in Catalina on it, too.
Coming into this “water year”, October 1-September 30th, the drought was about as bad as it could get. See below from US Drought Monitor folks at Big Red in Lincoln. Fortunately, the forecasts for continuing drought conditions in these parts of the SW and southern Plains, largely based on the presence of a La Nina regime in the eastern tropical Pacific, were only partly correct for the ensuing fall-winter-spring period and the drought has been much alleviated. The second drought monitor map, though not yet reflecting the most recent heavy rains (will post that on Tuesday when it comes out), gives you an idea of how our past eight months did in alleviating these horrible conditions, ones that helped drive hay prices so high as us horsey people know.
Also typical of weather patterns: when its raining a lot in one segment of the country, its usually NOT in another segment. So, you can see in the second map, while some of AZ and NM, and the southern Plains have gotten relief from drought, its gotten worse or spread to other areas in the West.
Not much else going on here, other than the chance of passing isolated Cirrus clouds today with a lot of hot air.
Dusty cool snap still in models for later in May, 25th plus or minus a day or two.
The End
