Has the lack of rain in the houston weather caused a drought?”
Drought turns dire in parts of Texas LUBBOCK, Texas – If not for the triple-digit heat, central Texas rancher Debbie Davis could almost think it was a different season entirely. “The (pasture) grass looks like it’s the dead of winter,” said Davis, who raises beef cattle and Texas Longhorns northwest of San Antonio. The region is enduring its driest 22-month span going back to 1885. “It’s horrible. It’s probably the worst I’ve ever seen.” Usually it’s West Texas that’s hot and dry. Now, central and southern Texas are alone in the nation in experiencing the two most severe stages of drought. About 11 percent of the state was in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought as of June 30, up from 8 percent the previous week. That’s bad news for farmers and ranchers in the nation’s No. 2 agriculture state behind California, who could lose billions in crops and livestock. Ranchers are sending many more cattle to sale barns, which has driven prices down. There’s little pastureland to graze on and the c
Scarce rainfall in June has left about a third of Texas in a drought, making some areas among the most severely dry in the country, officials said Friday. Since July is historically a drier month than June, it will only take a few more weeks of dry weather to cause rapidly deteriorating conditions for some areas, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said. “The lack of rainfall comes at a critical time of the year,” said Nielsen-Gammon, also a professor of meteorology at Texas A&M University. The climatologist said numbers show that many cities received less than half the amount of rain that normally falls in the spring. Nielsen-Gammon said Houston had its driest June in 100 years. Meanwhile, Travis Miller of the Texas Cooperative Extension program said the drought could mean trouble for farmers, who may soon be fighting aflatoxins that produce mold on crops. “The lack of rain places corn under stress and makes plants vulnerable for the development of aflatoxins,” Miller said. “(Afla
