Drenching rain eliminates 'extreme' drought in Texas

Doyle Rice | USA TODAY

Several rounds of drenching rain in Texas this month — following a wet winter and early spring — entirely eliminated "extreme" drought in the state for the first time in nearly five years.

Just 15% of the state is now in a "moderate" to "severe" drought, the lowest percentage since October 2010, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal website that tracks conditions.

Parts of Texas have already seen three times their normal amount of rainfall so far this month, Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said. Some spots have seen nearly 20 inches of rain, the Weather Channel reported.

While there has been serious flooding, the rain is "mostly welcome" across the previously parched state, especially for farmers, Nielsen-Gammon said. "Agriculture looks good this summer," he added, though the rain has made it harder for farmers to work their fields.

Another round of downpours and thunderstorms will bring a renewed threat for flooding across the southern Plains over the Memorial Day weekend, AccuWeather reported.

Reservoirs are filling up due to all the rain: As of Wednesday, water storage in Texas' reservoirs had climbed to 78.5% of capacity — the highest in more than four years — meteorologist Brad Rippey wrote in this week's drought report.

Several rivers, including the Red River near DeKalb, Texas, and the Poteau River near Panama, Okla., climbed to their highest levels since May 1990, Rippey said.

The rain has also soaked portions of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana this month. Fort Smith, Ark., is having its wettest May on record, while Oklahoma City is only an inch away from slogging through its wettest single month ever recorded.

The soggy pattern is partially the result of El Nino, Nielsen-Gammon said. El Nino, a warming of Pacific Ocean water that affects climate and weather around the world, tends to bring rain to the western and southern U.S., though its impacts in the late spring and summer are usually minimal, he added.

Drought-stricken California, while seeing a smattering of precipitation over the past week, shows no signs of busting out of its dry pattern, the Drought Monitor reported. More than 98% of the state is in a drought.

"The late-season rain and snow showers have improved the appearance of the landscape but have left the underlying, long-term drought virtually untouched," Rippey said.

The summer should also be hotter than average in the West, the Climate Prediction Center said in a forecast released Thursday.

Elsewhere, it should continue to be on the soggy side in the central Plains, Rockies and Gulf Coast, the prediction center said, which is typical for El Nino.