How Dry We Are

As I posted yesterday, without some significant rainfall on this last day of November, this could be the 6th driest one on record in Houston.  Only .65" has ended up in the rain bucket at Bush airport this month.  Its a story playing out all across the Lone Star.  Quite a reversal from last year, when we had nearly 5", the start of several wet months coming out of the record drought.of 2011.  Look at this comparison of the drought status over the last 30 days:

The big differences are in the panhandle and east and southeast Texas.  At the end of October only a handful of counties were classified as abnormally dry.  Now, nearly all of Southeast Texas are either in a moderate or severe drought.  The short range forecast for the next month shows little change in the rainfall patterns so this picture will likely get worse.

Beside leading to brown lawns and higher water bills, the increasing drought is also placing more and more of the state at risk for fire.  Here's the new map showing burn bans that are in effect:

Check back with me later today; I'll post the warm weekend forecast, talk about the next rain chance and the next cool down.