Drought — King, Texas

2022-05-01 to 2022-05-31 · King, Texas

Wider weather episode

The month of May saw significant improvements in drought conditions for some areas with little change or other areas. Areas across the southern South Plains and extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle mostly remained in exceptional (D4) drought conditions. The remainder of the area saw these significant improvements in drought conditions due to widespread rainfall. Much of the South Plains saw a two category reduction to severe (D2) drought while the Rolling Plains saw a one category reduction to extreme (D3) drought conditions.

Typically May weather was observed this year with numerous severe thunderstorm events with large hail, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall. The rainfall that came during May was the first significant precipitation in approximately nine months for the region. Several heavy rain events occurred during the month which is typically one of the wettest months on average. Areas that improved generally saw around 100 to 150 percent of normal precipitation. The areas which saw little to no reduction remained below 100 percent of normal. Outside of thunderstorms areas, winds were generally on the decrease which also resulted in a significant reduction in fire weather potential through the month. Also, contributing to the lower fire weather potential was a significant green-up of fuels.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1021372. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.