Drought in Randall County, Texas

Randall County started the month with the west to northwest third of the county in Extreme Drought (D3) with the rest of the county in Severe Drought (D2). By mid month the entire county was in Extreme Drought with a portion of the west-central to southwest degraded to Exceptional Drought (D4). Although the majority of the month was abnormally warm and very dry, some relief came during the very last few days of the month where 3 to 6 of rain fell with some isolated areas seeing even more. This allowed the majority of the county to improve in drought category before going into the first week of Aug. A small sliver of the far southwest corner remained in D4 while with the south to southwest half in D3 still and the north to northeast half improving to D2 by the end of the month.

During the month of July some areas, especially in the western combined Panhandles improved while other areas saw degradations in categorical drought per the US Drought Monitor. Overall drought conditions persisted across the combined Panhandles during the month of July. Irrigated corn was doing well but well behind schedule. Winter wheat harvest ended with yields well below normal. Rangeland and pasture conditions continued to be poor with an increase in cattle continuing to be sold, well above past years, as supplemental feeding becomes expensive when cattle should be grazing natural grasslands. A couple of wildfires in the Texas occurred during the month of July due to the drought conditions as well.