Drought Information Summary
Summary Drought Maps Drought Map Comparisons Drought Charts Tabular Data Drought in Motion APM Home
General Drought Information for Texas

There are many definitions for drought based on conceptual, operational or disciplinary perspectives.

Please read definition of drought.

Drought conditions in Texas by climatic region:

Select a Date:

If selected date is invalid, the date will be set to 8/6/2009. If selected date has no data the date will be set to the first previous date with data.

click image to show calendar (Click the image button to show calendar;
calendar dismisses automatically when you choose a date)

Drought Severity by Climatic Region on 6/18/2013

Region IDRegion NameCrop Moisture IndexPalmer Drought Severity IndexStandardized Precipitation IndexKeetch-Byram Drought IndexReservoir Storage IndexStreamflow Index
ContextShort-term meteorologicGeneral, hydrologicPrecipitationFire riskWater supplyStreamflow
1High PlainsExcessively DryExtreme DroughtModerately DryHigh RiskExceptionally LowModerately Low
2Low Rolling PlainsExcessively DrySevere DroughtModerately DryAbove AverageSeverely LowExtremely Low
3North CentralAbnormally DryModerate DroughtNear NormalAbove AverageNear NormalModerately Low
4East TexasSlightly Dry or Favorably MoistModerate DroughtNear NormalAbove AverageNear NormalNear Normal
5Trans PecosAbnormally DrySevere DroughtNear NormalHigh RiskExtremely LowExceptionally Low
6Edwards PlateauAbnormally DryModerate DroughtNear NormalAbove AverageSeverely LowNear Normal
7South CentralExcessively DrySevere DroughtNear NormalAbove AverageModerately LowAbnormally Dry
8Upper CoastSlightly Dry or Favorably MoistModerate DroughtNear NormalHigh RiskNear NormalModerately Low
9SouthernSlightly Dry or Favorably MoistSevere DroughtNear NormalAverage or LowSeverely LowNear Normal
10Lower ValleySeverely DrySevere DroughtNear NormalHigh RiskNo DataNo Data

Severity of drought is illustrated by cell colors from the worst (dark red thru red, orange, yellow) to the least (light yellow) and no drought (white). The 6-month SPI is used throughout this summary.

Texas's drought information from other organizations:

Texas drought map from the National Drought Mitigation Center,
University of Nebraska in Lincoln:


Texas 6-month SPI-blend map from the Office of Texas State Climatologist @TAMU:

Current KBDI map from the Spatial Sciences Laboratory @TAMU: