Drought in Kent, Texas

The month of April continued to see very little rainfall throughout the South Plains, Rolling Plains, and extreme southern Texas Panhandle region. This resulted in every county within the Lubbock County Warning Area (CWA) was either at extreme (D3) drought or exceptional (D4) drought conditions.

Ongoing La Nia over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean has kept conditions very dry locally. During the month of April, seasonal moisture usually begins to improve with occasional rain and thunderstorm events. However, in April of 2022, very few of these events occurred. A few light rainfall events occurred in the Rolling Plains which brought spotty amounts between one half inch and one inch of rainfall. However, these rainfall amounts still only amounted to as much as 50 percent of normal. Only one severe convective day occurred which brought isolated heavy rainfall in Castro County but also very large hail. Numerous strong to high wind events continued to occur through the month 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 near record values. One significant wildfire occurred on the 13th near Tahoka in Lynn County which burned approximately 1477 acres.