Drought — Lubbock, Texas

2014-03-01 to 2014-03-31 · Lubbock, Texas

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions continued to worsen through March prolonging exceptional drought conditions. Very little rainfall occurred with an increase in wind and wildfire activity. All counties on the South Plains and Rolling Plains ranged from severe (D2) drought to exceptional (D4) drought conditions.

March saw a continuation of a dearth of precipitation for much of the South Plains, Rolling Plains, and extreme southern Texas Panhandle. Only 0.33 inches of rainfall have occurred at Lubbock (Lubbock County) and only 0.82 at Childress (Childress County). Other extremes included 0.27 at Turkey (Hall County), 0.35 at Plainview (Hale County), 1.10 at Lake Alan Henry (Garza County), and 1.05 at Jayton (Kent County). Precipitation values were only on the order of 25 percent of normal. Periodic cold fronts moved through the region resulting in strong temperature swings from well above seasonal averages to well below seasonal averages. Monthly mean temperatures at Lubbock and Childress were -1.3 and -3.1 degrees, respectively. This also marks the fifth consecutive month in which both Lubbock and Childress were below average on mean temperatures. Keetch-Byram Drought Index values increased through March as well. Values between 400 and 500 were observed over the extreme southern Texas panhandle with 500 to 600 across the South Plains and Rolling Plains.

Several wildfires, haboobs, and blowing dust events were observed throughout the month of March. Agricultural pre-planting activities were struggling because of widespread blowing dust. Energy release component (ERC) values, which are an indicator of wildfire potential, surpassed a critical 90th percentile mark. Only slight greening of vegetation has been noted thus far with grasses and other fine fuels dry and prone to wildfire spread.

Economic losses due to drought through March since the drought began were estimated near $3.0 billion.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 498707. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.