I know it has been a very long time since I have updated the blog and that is my fault! We have been busy with some severe weather and life happens, as well! But we are watching a tropical storm in the eastern Pacific. The above picture shows Bud as of 10:00 am Thursday morning. It is forecast to travel to the north through northwest Mexico and pump in a ton of moisture to Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas. This is certainly good news as the drought news is getting worse and worse. Showers and storms will begin to enter the forecast as early as Sunday afternoon. I know it is Father's Day, but we desperately need to see some rain. Coverage Sunday is at 20% as of now.
There will be another 20% for isolated storms on Monday. It's now looking like Tuesday will be the better day to get some welcome rain for most of us. Coverage for Tuesday is looking to get to 30%, so storms will be more scattered. There's another 20% on Wednesday, too. We will get a better idea of rain potential and how much you can expect as we get closer to Sunday and as Bud makes its turn more to the north, or northeast. It does appear that many spots will get some welcome rain over that four day period, so be prepared for some potential flooding, too.
The other news we have across west Texas is the latest release of the U.S. Drought Monitor. There is more bad news for our area as Lubbock, Hale, Hockley, Yoakum, Cochran and Bailey Counties are all in the extreme drought category. That is the next to highest level of drought. The exceptional, which is highest, is affecting parts of Swisher, Brisoce, then up to Randall and Armstrong Counties just to our north. That does include Happy, Canyon and Amarillo. Even though we have seen some rain across the region in the last week or so, that has not been enough to help out. Lubbock is in a deficit of over 4.50" for the year. We really need some help from Tropical Storm Bud. That will hopefully be able to bring us several days of rain to help cut into that deficit.