Drought in Randall County, Texas

A small area of the county in the southwest corner started the month of April with Extreme Drought (D3) conditions. The rest of the county started the month in Severe Drought (D2). Extreme drought conditions overtook the northern into central portions of the county at the end of the month as these areas continued with a dry streak and only receiving around 50% of normal April rainfall.

Long term drought conditions contributed to concerns for wildfires and dust storms during the April winds and low relative humidity during the month. A total of 8,471 acres were burned across portions of Potter and Carson County in the Texas Panhandle early on in April. The fire that was in Potter County caused several residential areas north of Amarillo to be evacuated by the Potter County Office of Emergency Management due to erratic fire behavior along the Canadian River Valley terrain.

Per farmers and ranchers, soil moisture was reported to be short to very short. Dryland winter wheat was not harvestable during the month. Cow/calf producers were feeding more on rangelands, but in several counties the cow/calf pairs were going to market due to lack of forage availability.