Lack of Rainfall = Increasing Deficit

If you have not done so already, you may want to turn on your sprinkler system. That's because East Texas continues to remain very dry as a result of the lack of rainfall we have seen over the past couple of months.

While we are not in a drought, we are considered "abnormally dry."

If you recall last year at this time, we had numerous counties under burn bans. That was quickly erased as summer showers and a very wet fall helped erase the deficit and put us back in positive territory.

In fact, we ended 2009 with 55.06" of rain. We typically see around 46.62". If you do the math, that means we had a surplus of + 8.44" to close out the year.

That surplus has given us some pad in regards to how dry things have to get before desperate measures are taken.

As of May 4th, we have seen just 9.06" of rain. We typically see 14.86" through this day in the calendar year. That means our deficit is - 5.80" and quickly closing in on 6.00".

Each day that we don't receive any measurable rainfall means another 0.15"or so that we add to the deficit. While the issuance of burn bans may not be urgent at this point, we are certainly headed in that direction if we do not see some significant rainfall soon.