Drought — Roberts, Texas

2022-01-01 to 2022-01-31 · Roberts, Texas

Event narrative

Roberts County went into January with widespread extreme drought (D3) conditions across the entire county. Some moisture fell during the month but only enough to keep the status quo. The county ended the month still in extreme drought with a 4 to 8 inch deficit over the past 180 days.

Wider weather episode

Soils remained dry to very dry. Although some precipitation fell during the month of January, it was not enough to keep drought conditions from worsening. Some winter wheat was irrigated on warm days although farmers struggle to decide what to do to maximize output while limiting input. High fertilizer prices did not make this easy as the drought conditions continued to deteriorate naturally occurring nitrogen in the soil. Ranchers had to continue supplemental feeding as rangelands remained dormant. On top of the agricultural impacts from extreme to exceptional drought conditions, conditions favorable for wildfires remained a threat to the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1003720. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.