Drought in Hays, Texas

Most of South-Central Texas outside of the Hill Country received less than 50% of normal precipitation during the month. This led to worsening drought conditions in 13 counties and unchanged conditions in 11. De Witt and Lee Counties had the largest changes from Moderate (D1) Drought to Extreme (D3) Drought. Atascosa, Bastrop, Dimmit, Frio, Gonzales, Karnes, and Wilson went from Severe (D2) Drought to D3. Bandera, Blanco, Kendall, and Kinney went from D1 to D2. Bexar, Comal, and Medina remained in D3. Caldwell, Fayette, Guadalupe, Hays, Lavaca, Maverick, Travis, and Zavala stayed in D2. The Edwards Aquifer dropped 0.5 feet and was 38.2 feet below normal. Area reservoirs were below normal conservation levels. Medina Lake dropped 0.5 feet and was 84.7 feet below normal. Lake Travis dropped 0.3 feet and was 13.3 feet below normal. Canyon Lake dropped 0.3 feet and was 20.4 feet below normal. The 7-day average streamflow was much below (<10%) normal on the upper Colorado, Lavaca, Blanco, San Marcos, lower Guadalupe, Medina, and Atascosa Rivers; below (10%-24%) normal on the San Antonio, lower Nueces, and Frio Rivers; and normal (25%-75%) on the San Gabriel River. Most water providers encouraged conservation while San Antonio and Universal City imposed stage 3 restrictions and New Braunfels and Austin had stage 2. Of the counties in D2 or worse drought, Atascosa, Bastrop, Blanco, Bexar, Caldwell, Comal, De Witt, Dimmit, Fayette, Frio, Guadalupe, Hays, Karnes, Medina, Wilson, and Zavala had outdoor burn bans in effect at the end of the month.