Drought — Karnes, Texas

2025-04-01 to 2025-04-30 · Karnes, Texas

Event narrative

Most of South-Central Texas had near to below normal precipitation in April, and the drought mostly was unchanged or worsened. Only Burnet, Lavaca, and Williamson Counties improved from Extreme (D3) Drought category to Severe (D2) Drought. Kinney, Maverick, Uvalde, Val Verde, and Zavala went from D3 to Exceptional (D4) Drought. Karnes west from D2 to D3. Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Frio, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, Real, and Wilson remained in D4. Comal, Dimmit, Edwards, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Llano, and Travis stayed in D3. Caldwell and De Witt were still in D2. The 7-day average streamflow at the end of the month was much below (<10%) normal on the lower Nueces, upper Guadalupe, and Pedernales Rivers. The lower Guadalupe, upper Colorado, Frio, and San Gabriel Rivers were below (10%-24%) normal. The Edwards Aquifer dropped 0.1 feet and was 35.3 feet below normal. Medina Lake dropped 0.7 feet and was 94.6 feet below normal. Lake Travis dropped 1.0 foot and was 45.7 feet below normal. Canyon Lake dropped 0.7 feet and was 31.1 feet below normal. Lake Amistad dropped 2.0 feet and was 68.2 feet below normal. Lake Buchanan dropped 1.7 feet and was 21.3 below normal. Of the counties in D2 or worse drought Atascosa, Bexar, Burnet, Caldwell, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Kinney, Llano, Medina, Travis, Williamson, Wilson, and Val Verde had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month. Most public water systems encouraged at least voluntary water restrictions and many had mandatory restrictions. The City of Uvalde had stage 5, Fredericksburg had stage 4, San Antonio, Universal City, and Kerrville had stage 3, and Georgetown, Del Rio, and Austin had stage 2. New Braunfels changed from stage 2 to stage 3.

Wider weather episode

Most of South-Central Texas had near to below normal precipitation in April, and the drought mostly was unchanged or worsened. Only Burnet, Lavaca, and Williamson Counties improved from Extreme (D3) Drought category to Severe (D2) Drought. Kinney, Maverick, Uvalde, Val Verde, and Zavala went from D3 to Exceptional (D4) Drought. Karnes west from D2 to D3. Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Frio, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, Real, and Wilson remained in D4. Comal, Dimmit, Edwards, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Llano, and Travis stayed in D3. Caldwell and De Witt were still in D2. The 7-day average streamflow at the end of the month was much below (<10%) normal on the lower Nueces, upper Guadalupe, and Pedernales Rivers. The lower Guadalupe, upper Colorado, Frio, and San Gabriel Rivers were below (10%-24%) normal. The Edwards Aquifer dropped 0.1 feet and was 35.3 feet below normal. Medina Lake dropped 0.7 feet and was 94.6 feet below normal. Lake Travis dropped 1.0 foot and was 45.7 feet below normal. Canyon Lake dropped 0.7 feet and was 31.1 feet below normal. Lake Amistad dropped 2.0 feet and was 68.2 feet below normal. Lake Buchanan dropped 1.7 feet and was 21.3 below normal. Of the counties in D2 or worse drought Atascosa, Bexar, Burnet, Caldwell, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Kinney, Llano, Medina, Travis, Williamson, Wilson, and Val Verde had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month.

Most public water systems encouraged at least voluntary water restrictions and many had mandatory restrictions. The City of Uvalde had stage 5, Fredericksburg had stage 4, San Antonio, Universal City, and Kerrville had stage 3, and Georgetown, Del Rio, and Austin had stage 2. New Braunfels changed from stage 2 to stage 3.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1250904. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.