Drought — Live Oak, Texas

2025-04-01 to 2025-04-25 · Live Oak, Texas

Event narrative

Continued D3 and D2 drought.

Texas A&M AgriLife: Recent weather brought significant improvements across the district, with widespread rainfall totaling 0.4 to 14 inches. This moisture greatly improved soil conditions, triggered rapid green-up of pastures and rangelands, and supported the growth of many crops. However, excessive rainfall led to standing water in some fields and pastures, causing localized crop damage'particularly in low-lying and southern areas where onion fields were heavily affected. Moderate temperatures and a stretch of dry weather afterward allowed for the resumption of fieldwork, planting, and harvest activities, although some fields remained too wet for planting or had already suffered losses from prolonged flooding. Despite this, corn, sorghum, and cotton planting progressed, and crops that avoided flood damage responded well to the moisture. As fields dried out, farmers resumed herbicide, fertilizer, and fungicide applications. Sunflower fields improved, citrus trees set fruit, and the harvest of carrots, onions, cabbage, and leafy greens continued. Hay producers began planting hay grazer and preparing for first cuttings. Rangeland conditions notably improved, although heavily grazed pastures still required supplemental feeding, and pest pressure increased. Despite the rain's benefits, drought conditions persisted, with no additional rain in the extended forecast. Dry, windy weather began to deplete topsoil and subsoil moisture again, raising wildfire risks and causing stress to rangeland grasses. Livestock conditions generally improved with better forage availability, though supplemental feeding and herd culling continued due to high feed costs and market incentives. Overall, the rainfall provided a much-needed short-term boost, but sustained improvement hinges on additional precipitation.

Wider weather episode

A long stretch of little to no rainfall led to continued severe and/or exceptional drought over most of South Texas through the month of April.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1237588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.