Drought in King, Texas

The long term drought struck with a vengeance during the month of March with very little rainfall. This was reflected in the US drought monitor by the end of the month. Exceptional drought (D4) had encompassed much of Childress and Cottle Counties. Extreme drought (D3) expanded over the remainder of the Rolling Plains and onto several counties on the South Plains and extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle. Severe (D2) drought conditions were observed over a smaller portion of the South Plains and extreme south-central Texas Panhandle.

The ongoing drought was strongly tied to a mature moderate strength La Nia over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Effects of the drought were obvious through the month of March. There were numerous strong to high wind events which created widespread blowing dust throughout the South Plains. Additionally, there were numerous small wildfire starts throughout the entire region. However, a strong initial attack from the Texas Forest Service were able to suppress many of these wildfires. Observed fuels continued to be extremely to critically dry with ERC values consistently greater than the 90th percentile. Soil moisture content continued to decline with very few fields having subsoil moisture. Most of the region saw between zero and ten percent of normal precipitation in March. The extreme southern Texas Panhandle saw a rain event which brought much needed rainfall but not enough rain to improve drought conditions.