Drought, Aransas
- When
- April 1, 12:00 AM CST to April 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Aransas forecast zone
- Reported by
- Official NWS Observations
- Coordinates
- 28.015, -97.074 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
During April, drought conditions intensified further across South Texas. There was slightly beneficial rainfall that fell across Victoria, Goliad and La Salle counties, but the more significant rainfall unfortunately fell just north of the region. Almost all locations in South Texas (with the exception of isolated pockets in Victoria, Goliad, Refugio and La Salle counties) experienced less than 50% of normal rainfall for the month of April. May locations from San Patricio county, south to Kleberg county, and west to Webb County saw less than 10% normal rainfall for the month. The Corpus Christi International Airport only recorded 0.10 of rainfall, which tied for the 11th driest April on record out of 123 years.
By the end of April, exceptional drought conditions continued across Goliad, Victoria, Refugio, Calhoun, and Aransas counties. The exceptional drought conditions had expanded into Bee, San Patricio, Nueces, Kleberg, Live Oak, Jim Wells, McMullen, Duval and La Salle counties. Extreme to severe drought conditions were observed across Webb County. (per the U.S. Drought Monitor: http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html)
The primary impacts of the drought through March continued to be agricultural and fire related. Sporadic wildfires plagued the region with the drought-stressed fuels combining with low relative humidity and high wind days. Crops were not emerging due to lack of soil moisture, cattle were still being supplemented with hay and protein as forage was in very short supply. Even hay was become scarce, and cattle were still being sold as producers continued to reduce their herds. According to media reports, ranchers in Texas have lost over 800 million dollars since the summer of 2008 due to the drought. Effects on cattle, range and pastureland productions in South Texas may take years to recover. Periods of critical fire danger occurred through the month with sporadic wildfires.
In addition, reservoir levels continued a gradual fall. Choke Canyon Reservoir was near 76% capacity and Lake Corpus Christi near 53% capacity by the end of the month.