Beryl unlikely to bring relief to drought-stricken parts of Texas
Texans in drought-stricken areas may be hoping that Beryl will provide some relief. But they’re likely to be disappointed: The storm will dump mostly rain in regions that don’t really need it.
About a quarter of the state is currently in droughtaccording to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which primarily affects areas of west and central Texas along the Rio Grande, as well as those just west of Austin and San Antonio. About 3.5 million Texans live in areas currently experiencing moderate, severe or extreme drought, the drought monitor shows.
But after making landfall in the central Texas coast, Beryl is expected to move north and then east, meaning rain will likely only fall in areas where it is not needed, according to the drought monitor.
“If we miss one of these systems, and it doesn’t get into the area where we would like it to be, we’re just prolonging the misery of the drought in areas that really need water right now,” said Paul Yura, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin-San Antonio office.
Texas generally relies on “tropical activity” for summer rainfall, Mr. Yura said. And storms this year have already helped improve the drought outlook.
Last month, Tropical Storm Alberto brought rain to South Texas after making landfall in Mexico. Rainfall from that storm helped lower the state’s drought status from 30 percent to 25 percent. And before Alberto, an unusually wet first five months of the year helped the state’s drought outlook.
Last year was the warmest year in Texas since at least 1895, and as of last September, 86 percent of the state was in drought, according to the Texas Water Development Board. The driest year on record in the state was 2011, when nearly all of the land — 99.96 percent — was dry. experience drought end of September.
The picture today is highly regionalized, Mr. Yura said, with drought concentrated in west and south-central Texas. And nowhere in the state are conditions as extreme as in 2011 being experienced, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
