Drought — Kenedy, Texas

2013-12-31 · Kenedy, Texas

Event narrative

Significant rainfall during the last week of December allowed for improvement in drought conditions across Kenedy County. Extreme (D3) drought conditions were completely eliminated from the county and Severe (D2) drought conditions were confined to the southeast corner of the county. The western county border and the Severe (D2) drought conditions were covered by Moderate (D1) drought conditions, while a stripe of Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions covered much of the middle of the county.

Wider weather episode

A series of cold fronts and upper level systems pushed across the region from the last ten days of the month. The cold front that pushed across the region on the 21st dropped temperatures below normal, while a series of weak upper level disturbances slid over the cooler air and ultimately dropped almost 2 inches of rain across portions of the Upper Valley, 1 to 1 inches across the Mid Valley, and inch to nearly an inch across the Lower Valley. A stronger cold front swept across the Valley overnight on the 29th, and was followed by a strong upper level system. Strong atmospheric forcing produced an 18 hour period of steady, locally heavy rainfall on the 30th; calendar day records were set across the Valley with between 2 and 3 inches of soaking, bone chilling rain that left high standing water in fields across the region. Another batch of light to moderate rainfall would drop another to inch across the mid and upper Valley on New Year's Eve Day. In all, between 3 and nearly 5 inches of rain fell across the entire Rio Grande Valley with 1 to 3 inches across the ranchlands during the final week of the year.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 490518. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.