Drought Relief

On April 23rd and 24th scattered areas of light rain moved across Oklahoma and northern Texas with amounts generally less then one-tenth of an inch. Widespread moderate to occasionally heavy rainfall arrived on the 25th and 26th. A small area of north central Oklahoma received over 3 inches of rain. Unfortunately, parts of southwestern Oklahoma and parts of western north Texas generally received less than one inch of rain. Another system moved across the southern Plains on Friday the 28th, but rainfall amounts were generally less than a tenth of an inch. The exception was northern Oklahoma where up to one-half of an inch was observed.

Following a rather hot and mainly dry summer in 2022, a large part of Oklahoma was already experiencing extreme to exceptional drought.

A persistent pattern during the late winter and early spring, resulted in abundant rainfall for much of eastern Oklahoma and parts of northern Texas. Meanwhile, extremely dry and occasionally warm and windy conditions plagued much of western and northern Oklahoma.

By the middle of April, the drought had intensified across western and northern Oklahoma, while parts of southern and eastern Oklahoma saw rapid improvement in drought conditions.

The rainfall in late April improved drought conditions, particularly across portions of northern and western Oklahoma. However, 50 percent of the the Norman Forecast Area is still experiencing severe to extreme drought.

The United States Department of Agriculture, publish weekly reports about; soil moisture, crops, livestock, and pasture conditions . Much of the winter wheat grown in Oklahoma is suffering from extreme to exceptional drought and this is certainly having dire consequences. As of late April, over 60 percent of the of the crop was rated very poor to poor. However, the recent rainfall has improved topsoil conditions which should help with recently planted crops.

Wildfire potential for the western half of Oklahoma and northern Texas is expected to remain near normal through the remainder of the spring.

Most reservoirs across western and northern Oklahoma are below conservation pool levels (roughly 3 to 7 feet). Reservoirs in western north Texas (Kemp, Arrowhead, and Kickapoo have 60 to 65 percent conservation storage or roughly 6 to 7 feet below the conservation pool.

May and June are climatologically two of the wettest month of the year. Therefore, precipitation during this period can often alleviate or intensify droughts. The outlook for May 2023 calls for drought to remain but improve across northern and western Oklahoma.

The late spring into early summer outlook calls for equal chances of below, above or normal precipitation across much of Oklahoma and western north Texas.

Early indications suggest the average of temperatures during late spring and early summer will be above average. This is especially true for parts of western Oklahoma and western north Texas.

Acknowledgements: The Norman, Oklahoma Weather Forecast Office appreciates the following sources and their contribution to this story.

Drought Monitor UNL: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Climate Prediction Center: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

National Integrated Drought Information System: https://www.drought.gov/ 

High Plains Regional Climate Center:  https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?maps=ACISClimateMaps 

 United States Department of Agriculture https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Oklahoma/Publications/Crop_Progress_&_Condition/index.php 

 National Interagency Coordination Center http://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/ 

 Oklahoma Water Resources Board https://www.owrb.ok.gov/ 

 Water Data for Texas https://www.waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/statewide 

USGS: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php?id=ww (Link will be replaced by NIDIS once the regional graphics are available)