So far, at the time of writing this article, the City of Houston has seen no measurable rain for 50 days. Almost two months without at least an inch of rain, combined with record high, scorching temperatures peaking north of 100 degrees.
Many have been asking if it has ever been this bad, and yes, it has. The year 2011 saw worse drought conditions. It was also one of our hottest summers ever. But this 2023 has pushed most in Texas, and the City of Houston, to their limits. In particular, half of the metro area of Houston currently sits in extreme drought territory.
Space City Weather's Eric Berger says this domino effect started with record temperatures showing up earlier than usual.
"The problem is we had decent rains this spring, but in mid-June, the temperatures went to triple digits, and the rain became scarce," he says. "We can still turn the corner, if we get a couple fronts or a tropical system int he next month...but right now, it does not look great."
Speaking of tropical systems, the state did just get one this week. Tropical Storm Harold made landfall in South Texas near Brownsville, but left out a good chunk of the state from the nice splashes of moisture.
Despite the havoc Hurricane Harvey wreaked on the area in 2017, some locals have even started begging for another tropical landfall here.
"This is how it goes here...it is feast or famine when it comes to rainfall. But you can go from drought to flooding in about 30 minutes," he says. "There is that old adage...you have to be careful what you wish for."
This lack of wet sky stuff has caused the City of Houston this week to start floating the idea of water restrictions, with reports of water pressure suffering. That has led to some panic over if water will be shut off, and not be usable. But, Berger says there is no reason to panic yet.
"The city is not running out of water...I just checked reservoir levels...they are still in a pretty good position, they have gone down about five to ten percent. This is more of a precautionary measure to get people to recognize we are in a drought," he says.
The word 'yet' is the operative word, however.
If this were to persist for longer, like a month, then we would get into a potentially serious situation with water shortages," he says. "But that point is still very far away."
It seems like it is the summer that has no end, but surely, it has to rain again...right?
I do not think this keeps up...we are at the end of August, we will start seeing cold fronts in a month or so, which typically bring rain with them," he says. "We are in an El Nino phase as well...I do not think this is going to last long."
Meanwhile, the City of Houston reached a new record high temperature of 109 degrees on August 24th, matching the previous record set...in 2011.
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