Drought in Texas, October 1 to 31, 2000

The long-term drought conditions that began early this summer across the South Plains, extreme Southern Texas Panhandle, and the Rolling Plains eased during October as widespread and occasionally moderate to heavy precipitation returned to the area during the last three weeks of the month. According to the Climate Prediction Center, the precipitation was significant enough to return soil moisture conditions to near normal by the end of October. For agricultural interests, this rainfall was too little too late to result in any substantial improvement in crop yield. Not only was the precipitation not helpful but in fact it was detrimental to the farmer's harvesting efforts toward the middle and end of the month. An estimate of agricultural damage that resulted from this year's drought will not be available until the crops have been harvested and an assessment is made regarding the actual yields that farmers across the area realized. Detailed estimates of crop damage will be included at a later time.