Storms took bite out of drought, but here's why Austin still should worry about water
The combination of a tropical cyclone hitting the Rio Grande Valley last week and storms from a rare summer cold front this week — rain that flooded parts of North Texas and soaked us in Central Texas — didn’t erase the drought but took a noticeable bite out of it.
According to the latest data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a joint effort of the National Drought Mitigation Center, the U.S. Agriculture Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, about 94.8% of the state is experiencing drought — from the lowest level of "abnormally dry" to the most severe level of "exceptional drought." Last week that percentage was 97.2%
Drought monitor data indicate that at least 22.1 million Texans live in drought-stricken areas and that 2022 to date is the state's second-driest year in the past 128 years.
Exceptional drought — typified by crop loss and extreme sensitivity to fire danger — sank from 26.5% of Texas to only about 12.4%. The percentage hasn't been that low since the week of April 5, when about 9.8% of the state was in exceptional drought.
The worst drought conditions eased in some of the Hill Country counties west of Austin, including Mason, San Saba, Llano and Burnet. Exceptional drought persisted or even expanded in the Austin metro area: About 62.7% of Williamson County, 59.6% of Travis County, about 98.9% of Hays County and 44.2% of Caldwell County was in exceptional drought.
More:Austin just had its rainiest day of the year. Here's a list of more impressive stats
Meanwhile, the number of brush fires in Central Texas, fueled by withering vegetation after an especially dry summer, was down to four fully contained blazes in Bastrop County that had burned 719.7 acres.
Of the 254 Texas counties, 166 of them, including Travis, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties, remain under an outdoor burn ban.
According to the crop and weather report from Texas A&M AgriLife released Tuesday, the drought hasn't always meant bad news because the "arid conditions provided some positives, especially in areas that historically experience more fungal disease pressure due to rainfall and high humidity."
In the agricultural district that includes the Austin metro area and the Hill Country, "water-intensive trees and brush were still going into dormancy due to lack of moisture." For farmers, "corn and sorghum were harvested, and cotton harvest was starting. Pastures needed more rain, and cattle continued to be sold as hay supplies were running short."
How is Austin's water supply doing?
Austin's main weather station at Camp Mabry on Monday recorded as much as 3.73 inches, setting a daily rainfall record for Aug. 22 and shattering the old record of 1.25 inches set in 2020. The rainiest day in Austin this year was also the city's rainiest day in more than three years. The last time Austin got close to getting this much rain was May 4, 2018, when the city got 3.67 inches. The rainfall total for August to date, 4.83 inches, is more than twice the normal amount for the month.
Before Monday, the city's main weather station at Camp Mabry had logged only 13.1 inches of rainfall since Jan. 1, a total that was about 9 inches below normal for this point in the year. The inch of rain earlier this month and rain this week helped Austin shrink that deficit to about 5.6 inches.
More:Worst level of drought expands into Austin area, water levels continue decline
Although the parched soils in Central Texas soaked up much of that precipitation, some runoff was able to feed the region's critical water sources, such as the watersheds that feed underground aquifers and the Highland Lakes west of Austin.
Data from the Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages the Highland Lakes for hydroelectricity and flood control, show the volume of water stored in the reservoir lakes, Travis and Buchanan, would be full at about 2 million acre-feet. As of Thursday, that number was down to about 1.12 million acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre a foot deep.
Lake Travis, the popular aquatic playground that's also a community water source, was considered filled to only 51% of capacity, LCRA data show. The water elevation at Mansfield Dam, which forms the lake, was about 644.6 feet above mean sea level, which is not only about 19.7 feet below the historical average for August but also about 3 feet lower than a month ago. However, the recent rainfall appeared to slow the rate of decline because the level was still 644.7 feet a week ago.
In its drought report issued Aug. 11, the National Weather Service described falling well levels in the Edwards Aquifer, an underground layer of porous, water-bearing rock sitting beneath Central Texas.
"The aquifer level at the J-17 index well has dropped nearly 10 feet over the past five weeks," the report said. The well level was 630.7 feet at the time of the report, a low not reached since October 2014, according to the weather service. On Thursday, however, the J-17 well was at 635.4 feet, the Edwards Aquifer Authority reported.
What's the forecast for Austin?
Austin this week ended its run of days with triple-digit temperatures this month — and remains at 68 such days for the year. The recent rains ushered in a welcome stretch of milder summer temperatures well below normal.
The National Weather Service's extended forecast for Austin calls for high temperatures in the lower 90s from Friday through Sunday. Come Monday, rain chances rise to 40% through Tuesday night. Wednesday and Thursday both have a 50% chance of rain.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Storms affected drought, but Austin still should worry about water
