{"id":5048,"date":"2012-01-25T11:58:39","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T17:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=5048"},"modified":"2012-02-09T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T22:34:12","slug":"rain-tornadoes-hail-no-the-drought-aint-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/01\/25\/rain-tornadoes-hail-no-the-drought-aint-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Rain! Tornadoes! Hail! No, the Drought Ain’t Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a wild night of weather for several parts of Texas last night. Parts of Austin got over six inches of rain<\/a>, power went off and roads were closed<\/a> in San Antonio, and parts of Houston are under\u00a0a tornado warning<\/a>. Three tornadoes have touched dow<\/a>n northwest of the city this morning.<\/p>\n

Here’s a map of overnight rainfall totals<\/a> from the National Weather Service:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Map by National Weather Service<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This. Does. Not. Mean. The Drought. Is Over.<\/p>\n

The drought has certainly lessened in recent month. The percentage of Texas in the most extreme, “exceptional” stage of drought is down from a whopping 86 percent in late September to 25 percent today. But there is still a long way to go. <\/p>\n

Every bit of rain (or bucket, in today’s case) helps, and the last few months of above-average wet weather have been wonderful not just for lawns but also ranchers and farmers.<\/p>\n

The issue at this point is water sources. Reservoirs, lakes and aquifers have a long way to go to recover from the record single-year drought. A quick glance at lake levels shows little recharge from recent rains.<\/p>\n

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