Drought — Roberts, Texas

2023-02-01 to 2023-02-28 · Roberts, Texas

Event narrative

Roberts County started and ended the month of Feb 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). With February being a climatologically dry month, little to no relief came as monthly precipitation ranged from 0.01 to 0.75. The county remained in a 4 to 10 rainfall deficit dating back 365 days.

Wider weather episode

Some light rain and snow fell during the month of February. However, several high wind days dried the moisture right out. Soil moisture remained short to very short across the combined Oklahoma, and Texas Panhandle. The dryness of the soils and the high winds made it difficult to plant wheat as fields were blown out. A lot of farmers were having to replant despite having low expectations. As pastures and rangelands remained in dire straights, ranchers had to continue to supplementally feed livestock. With very dry soils the high winds also caused issues with blowing dust, especially across the northern and western combined Panhandles. Several high wind events caused some dust storms with visibilities dropping to below a quarter of a mile. There were even some automobile accidents and road closures due to the low visibility from blowing dust.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1083062. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.