Drought in Deaf Smith, Texas

Oldham and Deaf Smith counties started the month of May in Severe Drought (D2), as well as the western halves of Potter and Randall counties. The eastern halves of Potter and Randall counties started the month in Extreme Drought (D3). A continued trend of a dry spring brought on a 120 day deficit around 2 to 4 by month's end. This allowed the areas of D2 to degrade to D3. Parts of far eastern Randall County went from D3 to Exceptional Drought (D4). The drought conditions not only hurt crops but led to some bad wildfires in these counties.

A very dry spring led to the development of Extreme (D3) to Exceptional (D4) drought in the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. With an extra prolonged period of dryness and abnormally warm temperatures both in May and leading up to May, drought impacts were felt quite a bit. Not only were crops not surviving spring planting, but grasses remained abnormally dry and dormant for this time of year. This lead to extreme wildfire conditions as temperatures reached the upper 90s.