The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows an angry red blotch covering almost all of Texas, denoting extreme to exceptional the most severe drought conditions. In the past 12 months, just 15 inches of rain have fallen, the driest such period on record. The average daily temperature in July (87.1 degrees) beat the old 1954 record, by nearly two degrees. August temperatures, currently averaging over 89 degrees, are on target to set a new record too.
These phenomenally consistent weather conditions are the result of a long-running La Nina weather pattern the same set-up for the infamous 1950s drought, says Mark Rose, meteorologist for the Lower Colorado River Authority. When it began in 1949, one of every two Texans was still living in rural areas; by the time it ended seven years later, Texas had become an urban state, most of its population unfamiliar with the yearning for a good, two-inch rain.
