AUSTIN, Texas — It's Thursday, and that means a new drought monitor is now out for Central Texas.
While not much has changed from last week, we did see improvement in the Hill Country as a result of the heavy rain that fell during last week's storms.
Most notably, portions of Gillespie County that were once under the "exceptional" level of drought have now dropped to the "extreme" level of drought. This is part of a 3.5% statewide decrease in the "exceptional" drought coverage.
However, all other drought metrics, with the exception of a lack of drought and the "moderate" level, did worsen by roughly 1%. This shows that there is a ways to go to eradicate the drought that has cratered lake levels in our Highland Lakes and has forced water restrictions across the Austin metro area.
There could be some hopeful further drought relief on the horizon though, as the 6- to 10-day precipitation outlook has all of the Lone Star State more likely to receive above-average rainfall.
However, the highest potential of this looks to be in portions of the Permian Basin up through the Texas Panhandle and into portions of western Oklahoma and central Kansas.
Stick with KVUE for the latest on the rainfall potential.
In the meantime, your 7-day forecast is below.
