Weekly Climate Summary: 01/30/2022

Another dry winter week was seen this week in Texas weather. North Texas, between the Pecos and Brazos rivers in the west, the Edwards Plateau, and the Big Bend Country were the driest regions in the state. The majority of these regions record less than 0.01” of precipitation. Unlike previous winter weeks where the Panhandle has been one of the driest regions in the state, this week the Panhandle observed increased rainfall. The majority of the counties in the Panhandle recorded between 0.02-0.3” of precipitation. Central Texas observed similar accumulation as the Panhandle at 0.02-0.3” for most counties. The South Texas Plains, Gulf Coast, and Piney Woods region were the wettest regions in the state. These areas observed between 0.3-1.1” of precipitation. Specifically, Jasper, Cameron, and Nueces counties were some of the wettest in the state observing between 0.9-1.1” of precipitation. The wettest counties however were Aransas and Walker recording between 1.1-1.3” of precipitation.

 Continuing from the previous week, temperatures across the state were cooler than normal. While several counties across the state observed temperatures up to 2 °F warmer than normal, positive departures didn’t get any more extreme, and negative departures were far more prevalent.  The northern Panhandle, North Texas and the Lakes and Prairies region, and Central Texas saw temperatures 0-4 °F cooler than normal. The southern Panhandle, Big Bend Country, South Texas Plains, and Gulf Coast saw temperatures even cooler at 4-8 °F cooler than normal. The counties of San Augustine,  Jasper, Tyler, Orange, Newton, Nueces, Hidalgo, Starr, Brewster, Pecos, and Midland recorded some of the most extreme negative departures over this period, observing temperatures 6-8 °F cooler than normal. The most extreme negative departure however was in Henderson County, where temperatures were 10 °F or cooler than normal.