Southwestern ranchers living in a “forgotten” drought

Eastern Texas has been blessed with abundant moisture the past few months, leaving many with the impression that the great drought is over. But that’s far from true for west Texas and New Mexico, where drought conditions remain classified as “severe” to “exceptional.” The December-February period was called the 11th wettest on record for much of the eastern portion of Texas, with records going back 117 years. But that leaves the western two-thirds of the state bone dry, and it has become the forgotten drought because west Texas and New Mexico are sparsely populated. Nielson-Gammon now says instead of a “Texas drought,” there are different regions in different levels of recovery, and some regions are not recovering at all. The U.S. Drought Monitor still shows the heavy dark brown drought indicators covering west Texas and New Mexico, but normal colorings have returned for eastern Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. This year the lingering drought that also hit Georgia and Florida last year is working its way up the East Coast...more