Drought loosens grip on region -- slightly
Recent rain has caused a persistent drought to ease slightly in the region.
The latest map provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the northwestern portion of Wichita County remains in a Severe Drought category while the rest of the county has been downgraded to a Moderate Drought. Extreme to Exceptional drought still grips much of Texas.
At one point, Wichita Falls was more than five inches behind on average annual rainfall, but recent thunderstorms have cut that deficit to about three inches.
No rain is in the forecast for the next seven days and daytime high temperatures are expected to hover at about 100 degrees.
Area lakes remain well above levels that would trigger additional water usage restrictions. As of Monday Lake Arrowhead was at 81.8 percent of capacity, Lake Kemp was 73.9 percent full and Lake Kickapoo was at 73 percent.
Texas experienced record demand on its electric grid on Sunday as temperatures exceeded 100 degrees across much of the state. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas reported demand exceeded 75,000 megawatts of demand at 5:20 p.m., breaking an old record set in 2019.
ERCOT said the grid was able to meet the demand without significant problems.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Drought loosens grip on region -- slightly
