After several years of punishing drought, Fredericksburg and Gillespie County emergency management officials said this week that their corner of the Texas Hill Country is now 100% drought–free.
May 2026 was the 11th-wettest May on record. Drought.gov now reports that no Gillespie County residents are affected by drought. The growing area, a hotspot for tourism and luxury developments, previously experienced “extreme” to “exceptional” drought conditions and has been under Stage Four water restrictions, which regulate “water waste” and restrict non-essential irrigation, since April 1, 2023. City officials have not said whether those restrictions will be lifted.
Lake levels rose across the Texas Hill Country this week, with one popular recreational spot in Boerne recording its largest one-week increase in water levels in more than a quarter of a century.
Local officials are celebrating the current relief, but drought experts often caution that short-term rainfall does not necessarily end a long-term drought, especially when reservoirs and aquifers still need to recharge. As MySA previously reported, forecasters warn that a strong Super El Niño can bring early rain before giving way to drier years.
Drought data indicate that 2026 is the 15th-wettest year on record over the past 132 years. “We are about 5.12 inches above the historical average for the first half of the year,” the Fredericksburg/Gillespie County – TX Emergency Management said in a June 22 Facebook post.
“The rain has been a welcome sight…”
The share of Gillespie County residents affected by drought dropped from 33% last month to zero, according to Drought.gov.