Greening Austin Daily

Austin in a 10-Inch Rainfall Deficit; 3rd Worst Drought on Record

11th July, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

KUT had a short article about the drought today, explaining that we are currently in a 10-inch rainfall deficit and if we don’t have an El Nino weather pattern this fall and winter, things will get even worse next year.

April, May and June are our rainy season in Texas. But Austin is still in a 10-inch rainfall deficit with our best rain chances behind us. Our next hope is hurricane season, says Victor Murphy. He manages theNational Weather Service’s South Regional Climate Center.

“For us to get any significant relief between now and September, I think we’re probably going to need some tropical cyclones,” Murphy told KUT News.

That’s what happened last year. Tropical Storm Hermine made landfall in South Texas last September and traveled up I-35, soaking San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and into Southern Oklahoma.

That was the last time Texas saw significant rain. Right now, Texas is in a neutral weather pattern. But in a few months Texas will experience one of two weather anomalies.  Either El Nino, which could bring rain, or La Nina, which won’t.

“If we have another La Nina like we just had last fall and winter, the odds increase dramatically of us having another dry fall and winter season, which would not be good,” Murphy said. “Then the bad news [is], it’s looking a little more probable that [we will see] another La Nina next fall and winter.

Another La Nina would mean a drought comparable to the one in 2008 and 2009. That drought saw two La Ninas back-to-back, with a break in between. Water restrictions got tough, and farmers lost livestock and crops.

But what makes this current drought worse is that it is more widespread: 71 percent of Texas is in “exceptional” drought, making it the third worst drought on record. And people are noticing.