99% of Texas Still Suffers Severe Drought, Despite Recent Record-Breaking Rains

Richard Crawford/CC BY 2.0

Despite heavy, flooding-producing rains at the beginning of October, 99% of Texas remains under severe drought conditions, Think Progress reports (and kudos to them for continuing to stay on top of this one). Check out the drought map (below) from Drought.gov to see the overwhelming and continued extent of the record-breaking dry conditions gripping the state:

Drought.gov/Public DomainAs for why the rains of a couple weeks ago didn't much help to alleviate the situation, the intensity of the rain is important. Several cities actually set new daily records for rainfall: Waco (5.83"), Houston (5.11"), Dallas (1.37"). In such dry conditions, especially, that much rain just causes flooding and runs-off.

Several weeks ago the National Weather Service said there was no end in sight for the Texas drought; and here's the kicker quote from climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon on the potential durations of all this:

I've started telling anyone who's interested that it's likely that much of Texas will still be in severe drought this time next summer, with water supply implications even worse than those we are now experiencing.

Texas Governor Ignores, Suppresses Climate Connection
If you've been paying attention to Rick Perry news over the past week, it should be clear that the Texas Governor is not among those people listening to climatologists. Even in the midst of such tremendously extreme conditions, Perry's administration censored state-produced reports on the environment to eliminate mention of climate change. The move prompted the scientists producing the report to demand their names be taken off it.