Rains chip away at historic drought

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Recent rain is chipping away at our drought.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows improvement from Austin to the east into Bastrop County and south to Hays and Caldwell counties.

The Hill Country, however, remains in the exceptional category, the worst one. Inflows into the Highland Lakes remain very low.

The improvement around Austin comes after another half inch of rain fell last week. The area has seen just more than 10 inches of rain at Camp Mabry since Dec. 1, and more than 14 inches have fallen at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

This is unusual during a La Niña episode. During La Niña, the eastern Pacific waters cool, and a change in the jet stream causes warmer and drier-than-normal conditions over Texas.

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But according to the National Weather Service, during one out of five La Niña events, Texas actually sees more rain than normal. That’s the situation we’re seeing this winter.

The Climate Prediction Center now says La Niña will return to a neutral pattern this spring.

Our rain chances haven’t ended, either. A progressive weather pattern will continue into next week.

That means rain returns to the forecast Sunday into Monday and again Wednesday and Thursday. Check out your 7-day forecast.