Drought in Kinney, Texas

Several heavy rain episodes during August led to above normal precipitation across South Central Texas. Much of the western half of the area received three to four times their normal. The result was improvement on the drought in all but two counties. The central part of the area had the least rain and Comal County was the only county that saw the drought worsen from Extreme (D3) category to Exceptional (D4) category. Next door Hays County remained in D3. All other counties saw improvement. Bandera, Gillespie, Gonzales, Kerr, Kinney, Maverick, Real, Uvalde, and Wilson improved from D4 to Severe (D2) category. Bexar, Blanco, Guadalupe, Kendall, and Medina improved from D4 to D3. Burnet, Caldwell, Llano, and Williamson improved from D3 to D2. Of the counties in D2 or worse drought Maverick, Kerr, Bandera, Medina, Bexar, Comal, Hays, and Wilson had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month. The 7-day average streamflow on the Nueces River was normal (25%-75%), the Frio River was much below normal (<10%), the Medina River was below normal (10%-24%), the San Antonio River was normal, the upper Guadalupe River was much below normal, the lower Guadalupe River was below normal, the upper Colorado River was normal to below normal and the lower Colorado River was below to much below (<10%) normal. The Edwards Aquifer rose 4.2 feet, but was still 27.2 feet below normal. Lake Amistad rose 9.8 feet, but was still 54.1 feet below normal conservation pool level. Medina Lake dropped 4.2 feet and was 75.7 feet below normal and Lake Travis fell 1.7 feet to 36.2 feet below normal. Most public water systems encouraged at least voluntary water restrictions and many had mandatory restrictions in effect. Some of the larger services had the following: Fredericksburg Stage 3, New Braunfels Stage 1, San Antonio Stage 2, San Marcos Stage 2, Austin Stage 1, Kerrville Stage 1, and Georgetown Stage 2.