Drought in Texas, September 1 to 30, 2000

The drought continued to plague much of deep south Texas through September. Many stock tanks havedried up across Starr and Zapata counties. Both of these counties were declared natural disaster areas in August. In some cases ranchers in Starr county burned prickly pear cactus to feed their cattle. Some ranchers have hauled water from cities to their pastures. Very dry subsoil moisture caused reduction in grain sorghum and cotton crops across most of the remaining counties of deep south Texas. In addition, several locales have been placed under both mandatory and voluntary water restrictions. Hot and very dry weather aggravated the drought across deep south Texas in September. Several record highs were set for temperatures over the century mark in the early part of the month. Rainfall amounts were well below normal with most areas receiving less than an inch of rain. A few spots received 1 to 2 inches of rainfall. However, September is normally the wettest month of the year with monthly rainfall averaging 4 to 6 inches. In fact, the National Weather Service in Brownsville set a new record. It was the sixth driest September on record since 1878. Yearly average departures through the end of September ranged from 6 to 10 inches below normal. Monthly climatological reports from Cooperative Observers and National Weather Service data reported the following departures from normal: McCook at -10.54 inches, La Joya at -10.36 inches, Rio Grande City at -9.10 inches, McAllen at -8.08, Brownsville at -8.79 inches, and Raymondville at -9.61 inches. Finally, total storage in the 2 reservoirs, Falcon and Amistad, that supply water to the lower Rio Grande Valley remains at around 32 percent of conservation capacity.