{"id":782443,"date":"2026-05-08T17:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782443\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:46:21","slug":"texas-drought-numbers-improve-with-even-more-rain-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782443\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas drought numbers improve with even more rain on the way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vgergo7py0nwkd1k.jpg\" alt=\"Houston weather forecast for May 8: Spotty, strong storms\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/video\/fmc-erowke0f37lhq3sl\" data-v-4292be72=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston weather forecast for May 8: Spotty, strong storms<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-4292be72=\"\">Houston remains in an active pattern with scattered thunderstorms developing at times today and again tomorrow. While coverage stays spotty, a few storms could become strong with gusty winds, heavy downpours, and frequent lightning.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Texas has been experiencing a major drought for the past couple of years, but an active weather pattern has resulted in marked improvement in the state\u2019s dryness.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which was updated Thursday, about 82% of Texas is in some form of drought. Compare that to last week\u2019s 84% and 97% three months ago.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The biggest improvement has been on the higher end of the five-level drought scale. Last week, nearly 20% of Texas was in the highest level of the scale \u2013 Extreme or Exceptional (D3-D4). That number dropped to 16% with Thursday\u2019s update.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/texas-drought.jpg\" alt=\"ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker.gif\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"> <strong data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"> (U.S. Drought Monitor \/ video-(5))<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The improvement has been driven by a recent shift in the storm track across the U.S., which has resulted in a train for storm systems sweeping across Texas and dumping heavy rain along the way.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The bulk of that rain has fallen in the heart of Texas \u2013 from central portions of the Red River down to San Antonio and west toward the Big Bend.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/texas-drought.jpg\" alt=\"Most rain fell across central parts of Texas during April 2026, while the Panhandle region saw below-average rainfall.\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">Most rain fell across central parts of Texas during April 2026, while the Panhandle region saw below-average rainfall. <strong data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"> (NOAA \/ video-(5))<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">While there have been improvements in Texas, parts of the state have seen conditions worsen. Most notably, the Panhandle region has seen drought increase to the Extreme level since last month.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">More rain is expected across Texas through the weekend. At least a half-inch of rain is forecast for much of the state through Monday, but upwards of 2 inches is possible in some areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\"><b data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source:<\/b> Information in this story came from the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/us\/tx\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/news\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/weather\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Weather<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston weather forecast for May 8: Spotty, strong storms Houston remains in an active pattern with scattered thunderstorms&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":782444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,50,358,3187,68,313],"class_list":{"0":"post-782443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116540210572994273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}