Drought — Lavaca, Texas

2023-10-01 to 2023-10-31 · Lavaca, Texas

Event narrative

Much of South Central Texas received above normal rainfall in October, and there was improvement in the drought. The most improvement was in Bastrop, Fayette, Lee, and Williamson Counties all of which went from Exceptional (D4) category to Severe (D2). Bexar, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Lavaca, and Travis Counties went from D4 to Extreme (D3). Atascosa, Bandera, Gonzales, Karnes, Kerr, Llano, Medina, and Wilson went from D3 to D2. De Witt County remained in D3. Area reservoirs continued to be below normal conservation pool level. Medina Lake dropped 0.9 feet and was 87.9 feet below normal. Lake Buchanan actually rose 1.3 feet but was still 26.1 feet below normal. Lake Travis also rose 3.7 feet but was still 48.8 feet below normal. Canyon Lake dropped 1.2 feet to 19.6 feet below normal. The Edwards Aquifer rose 4.9 foot but was still 30.5 feet below normal. 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, Llano, and Kerrville Stage 4, Georgetown, San Antonio, Universal City, New Braunfels, and Austin Stage 2. At the end of the month, the 7-day average streamflow was much below (<10%) normal on the Nueces, Frio, Medina, and lower Guadalupe Rivers, and below (10%-24%) normal on the upper Guadalupe River. Of the counties in D2 or worse drought Bexar, Medina, Kendall, Wilson, and Karnes had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1144456. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.