Drought — Roberts, Texas

2023-01-01 to 2023-01-31 · Roberts, Texas

Event narrative

Roberts County started and ended the month of Jan with the northwest corner of the county in Extreme Drought (D3), central portions in Severe Drought (D2), and the far southeast corner in Moderate Drought (D1). The county received just under an inch to just under half inch of precipitation over the course of the month. Drought conditions continued as a 4 to 8 rainfall deficit continued from last year.

Wider weather episode

Soil moisture remained short to very short through the month of January across the combined OK and TX Panhandles. Range lands remained barren, leaving ranchers needing to supplementally feed livestock. Feed continues to be expensive leaving ranchers selling more cattle off than they normally would. Winter crops have not been doing well either. Many lakes and streams remain below normal levels across the area. The OK Panhandle and portions of the northern TX Panhandle remained in dire conditions with only receiving 25% to 50% of normal precipitation over the entire year of 2022. This is the same for portions of southern Deaf Smith County as well in the Texas Panhandle. Much of these areas received only 25% or less of their normal January precipitation, continuing a large deficit that will take many months to recover from.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1077298. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.