Texas Climate Report: January 2022

Highlights

The first month of 2022 observed drier than average precipitation totals and near-normal temperatures. With less than 4” of average precipitation in every county in the state, precipitation was below the normal for January. Temperatures across most counties were within 1 °F of normal and no county’s average temperature deviated more than 3 °F from the normal. Drought conditions mainly experienced no change across the month with much of the state still suffering from critical conditions, however, Central Texas did experience 1-2 class degradations in most areas. More counties were classified as being in an extreme drought this month compared to December 2021, most likely due to the below-normal precipitation being driven by the active La Nina. Not many extreme weather events occurred throughout the month, however, a series of weak tornadoes impacted the southeast during the middle of the month.

Severe Weather

The main severe weather event coming from January 2022 was a series of confirmed tornadoes between January 8th and January 9th. Six tornadoes in total were confirmed. The first tornado was denoted as the IAH JFK Blvd Tornado and was classified as an EF0. This tornado touched down in Harris County at 21:55 UTC and lasted until 21:57 UTC on January 8th. This tornado had an estimated peak wind speed of 65 mph. It traveled a length of 0.794 miles and had a max width of 30 yards. No fatalities or injuries were reported from this tornado, with minor damage to a hotel and several trees uprooted being the only impacts. The second tornado was denoted as the Dayton Brief Tornado and was classified as an EF0. This tornado touched down in Liberty county at 22:22 UTC and ended within a minute. This tornado had an estimated max wind speed of 65 mph and traveled a distance of 1.38 miles with a max width of 20 yards.  No casualties or significant damage were reported as a result of this tornado. The third tornado was denoted as the Montgomery Tornado and was classified as an EF0. This tornado touched down in Montgomery county at 03:40 UTC and lasted until 03:44 UTC on January 8th. This tornado had an estimated max wind speed of 70 mph and traveled a distance of 0.467 miles with a max width of 200 yards.  No casualties or significant damage were reported as a result of this tornado. The fourth tornado was denoted as the Spring Branch Tornado and was classified as an EF1. This tornado touched down in Harris county at 05:55 UTC and lasted until 05:58 UTC on January 8th. This tornado had an estimated max wind speed of 90 mph and traveled a distance of 1.11 miles with a max width of 40 yards.  No casualties were reported due to this tornado however intermittent damage was reported including damage on an office building at the beginning of the tornado's track. The fifth tornado was denoted as the Humble Tornado and was classified as an EF1. This tornado touched down in Harris county at 07:17 UTC and lasted until 07:22 UTC on January 9th. This tornado had an estimated max wind speed of 90 mph and traveled a distance of 2.25 miles with a max width of 50 yards.  No casualties were reported due to this tornado however several large trees were uprooted, cars were flipped, and one retail store lost a roof and 3 walls. The sixth and final tornado was formed from the same storm system as the Humble tornado but was denoted as the Kingswood Tornado and was classified as an EF1. This tornado touched down in Harris county at 07:25 UTC and lasted until 07:29 UTC on January 9th. This tornado had an estimated max wind speed of 90 mph and traveled a distance of 2.24 miles with a max width of 75 yards.  No casualties were reported due to this tornado however several large trees were uprooted and fell on structures.

Precipitation

The first month of 2022 witnessed dry conditions across the state. The western side of the state was particularly dry with most counties in the Panhandle, Big Bend Country, South Texas, Hill Country, and North Texas averaging less than 0.5” of precipitation. Specifically 31 counties in these regions observed less than 0.1” of precipitation making them the driest counties in the state across January. Central Texas around Travis County, the Northern Piney Woods Region, and the Rio Grande Valley observed higher precipitation values of 0.5-2”. The wettest regions of the state however were around the Brazos Valley Region, Southern Piney Woods, and Northern Gulf Coast. Counties in these regions averaged between 2-4”  of precipitation. The wettest county across the month was Tyler County with an average of 3.88” and the driest was Crane and Parker counties averaging 0.01”.

Although averages were lower than 4” in all counties of the state, several individual stations observed higher precipitation accumulation.  The highest station accumulations were in San Augustine, Tyler, and Matagorda counties where stations accumulated 7-8” and Harris County where a station accumulated 8-9”.

Most counties in the state experienced near-normal precipitation or precipitation that put them in the 66th percentile of driest recorded January on record. The exception to this was in North Texas where most counties were in the top 90th percentile for driest recorded January on record as well as the Rio Grande Valley where counties were in the 66th percentile of wettest recorded January on record.

Drought

As of February 1st, 2022, nearly the entire state of Texas was experiencing abnormally dry conditions or worse. ~32% of the state was in extreme drought, ~38% of the state was in severe drought, ~15% of the state was in moderate drought, and ~9% of the state was abnormally dry. This left the remaining ~7% of the state experiencing no drought conditions. The regions experiencing the worst drought conditions in the state were the Northern Panhandle and above the Edwards Plateau between the Brazos and Pecos Rivers. These regions were the main regions experiencing extreme drought conditions. The remainder of North Texas, the Big Bend Country, and South Texas also experienced several pockets of extreme drought, however, most of these regions were in severe drought. Central Texas and the Gulf Coast experienced less critical drought conditions with most of these regions being abnormally dry or in moderate drought. Several pockets of no drought conditions were also present in Central Texas and along the Gulf Coast. Finally, the Rio Grande Valley was well off with no drought conditions for the majority of the counties in the region.

Drought conditions got slightly worse or remained the same in most regions of the state across the month. The majority of the drought conditions in the Panhandle, Big Bend Country, and North Texas remained constant or degraded by a single class, however, several counties such as Randall, Wilbarger, and Hudspeth had areas that improved by a single class. The Eastern Edwards Plateau,  the Hill Country, and South Central Texas were the regions that had the worst drought change across the period. These regions experienced 1 to 2 class degradations across the month. While some counties in the Southern Piney Woods experienced no change, this region improved the most across the period with many counties experiencing 1 to 2 class improvements.        

Temperature

The first month of 2022 saw near normal January temperatures across the state. The Panhandle, North Texas, and the Central Gulf Coast had several counties record average temperatures 1-3 °F warmer than normal, however for the remainder of these regions, temperatures were within 1 °F of normal. On the other side of things, the Piney Woods and Rio Grande Valley had several counties record average temperatures 1-3 °F cooler than normal, however once again the remainder of these regions recorded temperatures within 1 °F of normal. The Big Bend Country experienced both sides of things with Terrell and Val Verde counties observing average temperatures of 1-3 °F cooler than normal and El Paso and Hudspeth counties observing average temperatures of 1-3 °F warmer than normal. The remainder of the Big Bend Country and the remainder of the state recorded average temperatures within 1 °F of normal.

Similar to precipitation, several stations within counties recorded warmer and cooler average temperatures across the period. The most extreme negative departure was in Henderson County where temperatures were observed to be over 5 °F cooler than normal. The most extreme positive departure was in Val Verde County where temperatures were observed to be 2-3 °F warmer than normal.