It\u2019s no secret we\u2019ve been running dry and the latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows conditions worsening across much of Southeast Texas.<\/p>\n
While we\u2019re not seeing the worst drought category (D4 \u2013 \u201cExceptional\u201d) just yet, Extreme Drought (D3) has now pushed into Colorado, Jackson, Austin, and Wharton counties. Severe drought (D2) has spread into some of our biggest counties, including Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Liberty, and several others. Most of the rest of the region is dealing with moderate drought.<\/p>\n
Update through November 20, 2025 (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re thinking \u201cThis has gotten worse fast\u2026\u201d you\u2019re right. Over the last four weeks, almost every county has seen drought conditions intensify. The only small bright spots? Slight improvement around Houston and Madison counties in our northern counties.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s causing the expansion?<\/p>\n
Simply put: too warm + too little rain.<\/p>\n
Over the past month:<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf27\ufe0f Rainfall was:<\/p>\n
Only 1\u20132 inches along and south of I-10<\/p>\n
2\u20134 inches up in the Piney Woods and Brazos Valley<\/p>\n
Just 25\u201350% of what we\u2019d normally expect<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf21\ufe0f Temperatures were:<\/p>\n
4\u20138\u00b0 above normal over the last 7\u201330 days<\/p>\n
Those two together, hotter weather and very little rain, pulled moisture out of the ground faster than it could be replaced. From the graphic below, you can see we need 10.50\u2033 to 13.50\u2033 of rain to end the drought in southeast Texas. <\/p>\n
10.50″ to 13.50″ inches of rain needed in most of SE Texas (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Impacts we\u2019re seeing now:<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udca7 Hydrology: Rivers and streams west of the Brazos River are running below to much below normal.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf31 Agriculture: Soil moisture levels are very low across the region, especially south of I-10, where values fall in the 1st to 5th percentile (that\u2019s about as dry as it gets).<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udd25 Fire danger: Dry vegetation means greater wildfire concerns. As of November 14th, burn bans are in effect in 17 counties, including Harris, Fort Bend, Galveston, Brazos, Liberty, and more.<\/p>\n
Current burn bans as of November 17, 2025 (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Reservoir snapshot (as of Nov. 14)<\/p>\n
Lake Somerville – 83%<\/p>\n
Lake Conroe – 95%<\/p>\n
Livingston Reservoir – 95%<\/p>\n
Lake Houston – 98%<\/p>\n
Lake Texana – 72%<\/p>\n
So far, lakes closer to Houston are holding up better than those farther southwest.<\/p>\n
Looking Ahead:<\/p>\n
For November:<\/p>\n
Temperatures: Higher odds of staying warmer than normal <\/p>\n
Rainfall: Near average. That\u2019s better than nothing but we need above-average rain to put a dent in the drought. <\/p>\n
Beyond this month, the NOAA winter outlook has a 30%-40% chance of below-average precipitation through February.<\/p>\n
30%-40% chance of below average precipitation through February (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)This week:<\/p>\n
There is rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday. The heaviest rain falls in central and north Texas. They need it too. We have more expected next Tuesday, too, from a cold front. Let\u2019s hope we get another good soaking. <\/p>\n
We could get an inch and a half of rain on Friday in Houston (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Bottom line: <\/p>\n
The dryness isn\u2019t just in the forecast; it\u2019s already here. We\u2019ll keep watching how things evolve, especially as wildfire risk climbs and water levels respond to the lack of rain. From my experience, once we get into a drought, it\u2019s really hard to get out of it. But there will be a major pattern change at some point, but it will certainly come with flooding. If you\u2019ve lived here long enough, you know this is how it goes. <\/p>\n
Anthony’s Weather Lab<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret we\u2019ve been running dry and the latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows conditions worsening across much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30228,30227,470,171,56,30226,58,57,11696],"class_list":{"0":"post-55024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-agriculture-drought-impact","9":"tag-burn-bans-texas","10":"tag-drought","11":"tag-forecast","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-drought","14":"tag-houston-headlines","15":"tag-houston-news","16":"tag-texas-drought"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}