Drought — Real, Texas

2023-05-01 to 2023-05-31 · Real, Texas

Event narrative

The northern part of South Central Texas received near to above normal precipitation in May and this led to improvement in the drought for most counties. Bandera and Medina Counties improved from Exceptional (D4) drought to Severe (D2) drought. Blanco and Kerr Counties improved from D4 to Extreme (D3). Comal and Real improved from D3 to D2. Three counties remained unchanged, Kendall (D4), Gillespie (D3), and Hays (D2). Of the counties in D2 or worse drought Bandera and Kerr had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month. The Edwards Aquifer rose 6.8 feet in May, but was still 14.8 feet below normal. Area reservoirs mostly rose, but were still below normal conservation pool elevation. Medina Lake rose 0.3 feet and was 83.0 feet below normal. Canyon Lake was unchanged and was 12.0 feet below normal. At the end of the month, the 7-day average streamflow was below normal (10%-24%) to normal (25%-75%) on the Nueces River, normal on the Medina River, and much below normal (<10%) on the upper Guadalupe River. Most public water systems encouraged at least voluntary water restrictions and many had mandatory restrictions in effect. Some of the larger services had the following: Fredericksburg Stage 3, New Braunfels Stage 1, and Kerrville Stage 1.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1101436. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.