Drought in King, Texas

Extreme drought (D3) conditions remained nearly unchanged during the month of February. Parmer County in the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle was added to D3 drought conditions. Moderate (D1) to Severe (D2) drought conditions were observed elsewhere across the remainder of the region.

These drought conditions were strongly tied to a mature moderate strength La Nia over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Several drier than average months have led to these conditions. The latest three month precipitation amounts continued to range from 5% to 25% of normal. A minor winter weather event occurred around February 4-5 which brought mostly light snowfall to the region. Heavy snowfall was observed in the southern Rolling Plains with light snowfall elsewhere. February also saw a few days of extremely cold temperatures around this same time frame with some locations observing their coldest temperatures in nearly 30 years. However, the months of December, January, and February are the peak of the dry season. There are few agricultural impacts this time of year with most of the area cotton already harvested. However, winter wheat has been very poor to this date. Furthermore, livestock was being fed supplemental feed due to poor native grasslands.