Drought in Texas, July 1 to 21, 2020

Name: Drought in Texas, July 1 to 21, 2020
Start: 2020-07-01T00:00
End: 2020-07-21T23:59
Location: Texas

July 1 to 21, 2020 · NWS AMA · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.

The far northwest Texas Panhandle had been in Severe Drought (D2) since May, 2020. After the drought worsened and spread in June, significant improvement occurred especially across the northwest half of the Texas Panhandle in July as monsoon rainfall led to 125 to 200 percent above normal rainfall for many areas. This equated to rainfall of 1 to 2 inches above normal for the month and significant drought improvement if not drought removal in those areas. Meanwhile, portions of the southeast Texas Panhandle received below normal rainfall up to around 50 percent of normal, which equated to 1 to 2 inch deficits in July. This led to drought worsening and spread in these areas. By the end of the month, the Severe Drought (D2) continued across portions of the far southern and southeastern Texas Panhandle and pockets of Extreme Drought (D3) remained as well.

Some of the impacts to agriculture include but are not limited to the following. Corn especially, was largely harvested for silage in order to plant a secondary crop. Cotton crop had already been stunted even in areas that received meaningful rain towards the end of the month. Irrigation was in full use especially in West Texas to include Oldham, Deaf Smith, Randall, and Armstrong County in the Texas Panhandle where drought conditions continued to persist. Water supply for livestock continues to be low for much of the area in persistent D1 to D3 categories.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 30, 11:14 PM CST, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 30, 11:14 PM CST, 46 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
1214 AM CDT Wed Jul 1 2020

.AVIATION...06z TAFS...
VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites with winds out of the
northwest and shifting northeast at or below 10kts. Few high
clouds to mostly clear skies expected.

Weber

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 258 PM CDT Tue Jun 30 2020/

SHORT TERM...Today through Wednesday night...

Current satellite and model analysis depicts a mid to upper level
negatively tilted trough running southeast from British Columbia,
Canada down into MT, WY, and CO. Flow aloft over the FA is weak
and southwest as the area is just outside the base of the trough.
A secondary low pressure system is located in the northeast CONUS
and high pressure is located over the Texas Gulf Coast. Going into
Wednesday evening the high pressure down south is progged build
over most of Texas and Oklahoma into the FA to include Kansas.
Flow aloft will become weak and varied with this high pressure.

Today, the FA continues to see hot temperatures in the upper 90s
to low 100s. There will be a slight cooling into temps tomorrow
by a degree or three as a weak cold front passes through the area
overnight tonight. The winds will be light behind the front with
no precipitation expected. There will be a slight recovery in
dewpoints with relative humidities rebounding. For tomorrow,
Wednesday, high temperatures will be mainly in the upper 90s with
a few location in the Canadian River Valley and off the Caprock
in the low 100s. Winds will be out of the north 10 mph or less
while veering to the east and southeast later in the day.
Overnight lows both tonight and tomorrow night will mainly be in
the low to mid 60s with the exception of the far eastern Texas
Panhandle.

Hoffeditz

LONG TERM...Thursday through Monday

After building to our east, upper level ridging will retrograde
westward and strengthen late this week as western CONUS troughing
abates and the main branch of the jet shifts back north. By Sat
night, a solid 594 dm h5 high is expected to be positioned over srn
AZ with the Panhandles in weak nrly flow aloft.  In the low levels,
a belt of relatively moist air with both GOMEX and ern Pacific
contributions will lay out over the area.  Isolated to scattered
storms are expected, favoring the afternoon hours for much of this
period.  Strong and/or severe weather should not be widespread.

Thursday... The aforementioned upr level high should come directly
overhead by Thu night, though it doesn't look overly beefy at
that time. A weak shrtwv looks to ride the western periphery of
the ridge Thu afternoon and this could allow a storm or 2 to fire.
The better thermodynamic set ups look to be south and east of the
Panhandles, and storms may fire in those locations and send a
breezy outflow through the TX Panhandle Thu evening. Highs Thu are
still expected to be above normal in the mid 90s to near 100.

Friday through Monday... Isolated storms are possible Fri through
Sun as upr ridging sets up to our west and just enough instability
builds to allow some afternoon convection.  Severe weather can't be
completely ruled out but should be very sporadic if any due to
weak mid level lapse rates and weak shear. Highs will be cooler
than recent highs, but with increased moisture and less wind, it
will probably still feel about the same.

Simpson

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Amarillo TX                68  96  69  93  67 /   0  10  20  20  20
Beaver OK                  68 100  68  97  66 /   5  10  10  10  20
Boise City OK              63  98  65  96  64 /   0  10  10  20  20
Borger TX                  71 103  71  99  69 /   0  10  10  20  20
Boys Ranch TX              67 101  69  98  67 /   0  10  10  20  20
Canyon TX                  68  95  68  93  67 /   0  20  20  20  20
Clarendon TX               70  97  70  94  68 /   0  20  20  20  20
Dalhart TX                 64  98  66  95  64 /   0  10  10  20  20
Guymon OK                  67 101  67  97  66 /   0  10  10  20  20
Hereford TX                68  96  68  95  67 /   0  20  20  20  20
Lipscomb TX                70 100  69  97  68 /   5  10  10  20  20
Pampa TX                   69  98  69  95  67 /   0  10  10  20  20
Shamrock TX                71  98  71  95  69 /   0  20  20  20  20
Wellington TX              71 101  72  97  69 /   0  20  20  20  20

&&

.AMA Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
TX...None.
OK...None.

&&

89/11/99

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 30, 7:02 PM CST, 4 hours 58 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
802 PM CDT Tue Jun 30 2020

OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-011100-
Cimarron-Texas-Beaver-Dallam-Sherman-Hansford-Ochiltree-Lipscomb-
Hartley-Moore-Hutchinson-Roberts-Hemphill-Oldham-Potter-Carson-
Gray-Wheeler-Deaf Smith-Randall-Armstrong-Donley-Collingsworth-
Palo Duro Canyon-
802 PM CDT Tue Jun 30 2020

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma
Panhandles.

.DAY ONE...Tonight.

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday.

Thunderstorms are possible Thursday through Monday. A few storms
could become strong to severe.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Dallam

When: July 1, 12:00 AM CST to July 21, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Dallam forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 36.278, -102.602 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Extreme drought (D3) existed in the northern half of the county, as well as a small sliver in the southwest going into July. With an exception of a portion in the southeast that was in moderate drought (D1), the rest of the county was in at least severe drought (D2). Beneficial monsoonal rainfall developed early in the month with Dalhart receiving 0.85 on the 3rd of the month and 0.70 on the 4th. Texline received around 1.30 between those two days. This allowed the county to drop at least one category in Drought during the first week. There was a small break in the rain during week 2, then drought conditions started to improve significantly with the county ending week 3 with no areas of severe drought and week 4 with only a couple of small areas in abnormally dry. Texline received a whopping 8.82 inches for a monthly total.

Drought, Sherman

When: July 1, 12:00 AM CST to July 21, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Sherman forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 36.278, -101.893 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

About a third of Sherman County was in severe drought (D2) going into the month of July with less than one inch falling for each month previously at Stratford. Wells were struggling to keep up with irrigation demand. Pasture and rangeland conditions were reported as very poor to fair. Reports were made of very short to short topsoil and subsoil moisture levels. Beneficial monsoonal rainfall began to fall in the month of July allowing for Stratford and surrounding areas to receive 3 to 4 inches. Severe drought was removed by the end of week 3. By the end of the month Sherman County had managed to expel all categories of drought. Around July 11, at least one wildfire was started by lightning due to the dry conditions through around mid July. This fire burned around 300 acres.

Drought, Hansford

When: July 1, 12:00 AM CST to July 21, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hansford forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 36.278, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The majority of Hansford County was in severe drought (D2) going into July with a small area in extreme drought (D3) in the northeast. A portion of the southeast remained in moderate drought (D1). Like a lot of areas in the TX Panhandle the majority of beneficial monsoonal rainfall fell in the third week. Areas near Gruver received 4 to 5 inches removing all D3 and D2 drought classifications from the county. By week 4 an additional 1-2 inches of rain fell. Wells were struggling to keep up with irrigation demand. Pasture and rangeland conditions were reported as very poor to fair. Reports were made of very short to short topsoil and subsoil moisture levels.

Drought, Ochiltree

When: July 1, 12:00 AM CST to July 21, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Ochiltree forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 36.278, -100.816 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ochiltree County was in moderate drought (D1) through at least the first two weeks of July with a third of the county in severe drought (D2) to extreme drought (D3) mainly in the north to northwestern portions of the county. In the third week of the month three beneficial monsoonal rainfall began to improve conditions and all areas fell below severe drought status by the end of the month. Areas around Perryton ended the month with 5 to 6 inches of rainfall for July, which is near 200% of normal.

Drought, Hartley

When: July 1, 12:00 AM CST to July 21, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hartley forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 35.840, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hartley County began the month with a little over half of the western portion of the county in extremem drought (D3). The eastern portion of the county tapered off from severe drought (D2) to moderate drought (D1) further east. Wells were struggling to keep up with irrigation demand. Pasture and rangeland conditions were reported as very poor to fair. Reports were made of very short to short topsoil and subsoil moisture levels.

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2020 Every state in 2020 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, July 2020

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 913918, 913919, 913920, 913921, 913922.