Drought — Lubbock, Texas

2013-02-01 to 2013-02-28 · Lubbock, Texas

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions during the month of February were reduced area wide with the greatest improvement observed across the northern Rolling Plains and extreme southeastern Texas panhandle. By the end of the month, four counties had dropped below severe (D2) drought levels: Motley, Cottle, Hall, and Briscoe. Furthermore, Hall county was reduced to abnormally dry (D0), its lowest drought level in over two years. Although the remainder of the region continued to be in severe (D2) drought or worse, exceptional (D4) drought was reduced.

The month of February saw several warm and windy episodes as well as periodic cold fronts and precipitation. In general, total precipitation was at or above seasonal averages for the month and year to date. This is the primary reason why drought levels were reduced area wide. Two notable winter weather events occurred on the 12th-13th and a blizzard on the 24th-25th. The blizzard brought as much as 15 inches of snow to the extreme south-central Texas panhandle. Most areas received several inches of snow with the exception of the southern South Plains and southern Rolling Plains which received little to no snowfall from this event. An extreme gradient of snowfall was observed between areas that received snow and areas that did not receive snow. Slaton in southeastern Lubbock County did not report any snow while Shallowater in northwest Lubbock County reported eight inches from this single event. With several cool periods throughout the month due to strong cold fronts, February was below normal for mean temperature. Lubbock and Childress were both -0.9 and -0.5 degrees, respectively. Temperatures year to date were now slightly below average. Keetch-Byram Drought Index values greatly improved through the month. By the end of February, values between 200 and 300 were observed over the extreme southern Texas panhandle through the northern South Plains and northern Rolling Plains. The rest of the area saw values between 300 and 400 except for the southwestern South Plains and southern Rolling Plains which observed values between 400 and 500.

Despite experiencing several windy days, no significant wildfires were observed through the entire month. Fuel loads remained low across the region because of the drought conditions. Although this is normally a good sign for the area, the peak wildfire season occurs during the months of March and April. Upper soil moisture levels had improved as well as prospects for winter crops with the significant snowfall across the region. However, water supplies were not being recharged and deep soil moisture remained inadequate to affect long term drought problems. Preparation for spring planting was underway over the region with rangelands and pastures in generally poor condition.

Economic losses due to drought through February since the drought began were estimated near $2.6 billion.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 431296. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.