Drought in Roberts, Texas

Roberts County started the month with a majority of the county in Severe Drought (D2) conditions with exception to the far southern and far eastern portions that began in Moderate Drought (D1) conditions. The southeast corner of the county received 0.5 to 1.5 above normal rainfall for the month, while the far western portions received 0.5 to 1.5 below normal. The rest of the county was right around normal for the month of August. About a third of the county in the northwest corner stayed in D2, while the far southern and southeastern portions of the county improved to Abnormally Dry (D0) and the rest of the county improved to Moderate Drought (D1) conditions.

Beneficial rains have remained isolated across the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles through the month of August. Many areas across the combined Panhandles continued to remain in quite the deficit for rainfall with soil conditions remaining poor to very poor. Some areas did see an improvement with August rains but this was limited to the central to east-central Texas Panhandle. Drought conditions continued to keep rangelands bare, forcing ranchers to continue to sell off cattle as supplemental feeding has been too expensive this year especially when cattle should be grazing. Peanut farmers are expected to see a yield loss of 30% to 50% across much of West Texas into the Panhandle.