Drought — Roberts, Texas

2022-12-01 to 2022-12-31 · Roberts, Texas

Event narrative

Roberts County started and ended the month with Extreme Drought (D3) conditions in the northwest corner of the county. The majority of the county was in Severe Drought (D2) conditions with a small area of Moderate Drought (D1) in the far southeast corner. The county received below normal precipitation for the month. With a monthly normal below an inch for precipitation. This did not worsen the overall drought and did nothing to help it. The county remained in a 4 to 9 deficit year to date.

Wider weather episode

Much of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles remained dry throughout the year. During December a wide range of drought conditions occurred across the combined Panhandles, from Exceptional Drought (D4) to Moderate Drought (D1). Soils remained low to very low on soil moisture. Drought conditions affected pastures, which forced ranchers to sell upwards of 35% more cattle during the year compared to previous years. More than 70% of the cotton production across the Texas Panhandle and Southern Plains failed due to the drought. This was one of the worst production seasons since the 1950's. One of the hardest hit areas was central to eastern portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle into the far north central Texas Panhandle. Some parts of this area received less than 10 inches of rainfall for the entire year.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1071626. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.