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June 25, 2018:Rainfall Winners and Losers
SPONSORED CONTENT Over the last week parts of South Texas received over 12 inches of rainfall all but eliminating any drought that might have been hanging on. The image below shows the latest Drought Monitor next to the observed rainfall going back to last Monday (June 18). The Beaumont-Port Arthur also saw upwards of 10 or more inches.
Oklahoma was also a winner with needed moisture hitting some very dry areas around Woodward, Woods, Harper, and Ellis counties. They’re not out of the drought but look to see some improvement there over the next week.
The losers were areas like Laredo that missed out on all the rain that hit the Texas Coast, the area around Midland in Extreme Drought, Amarillo, Childress, and the counties around Jackson and Harmon in Oklahoma.
Why so Much Rainfall?
Tropical moisture from the western Gulf of Mexico explains the tremendous rainfall for the Texas Coast over the last week. But what about Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of the Texas Panhandle? The two primary ingredients for rainfall include ample low-level moisture as well as a source of lift. While low-level moisture is usually adequate across the middle of the U.S. during the warmer months, sometimes lift is missing.
Over the past month, a set of fronts lingered across parts of the middle U.S. One front, defining cooler air to the north and warmer air to the south, lingered over the corn belt from Iowa and across Illinois and Indiana. Another front aligned more north — south across the Middle Plains. Rainfall was focused along these boundaries so far in June. Areas a bit displaced from these fronts, such as much of Missouri, missed out.
Next 10 Days: Hot-Dry Pattern
High pressure over the Southeast U.S. will start working its way north and then west and will dominate our weather over the next 10-14 days with quite a bit of heat. The image below shows the number of days out of the next 10 that are expected to see 100-degree or more temperatures. Parts of North Texas, Far West Texas, and the area north of Laredo are looking like the “hot” areas and could see 8 out of 10 days with 100-degree temps or above!
That’s it for this week. Stay cool out there and we will be back next week with another update.
