LUBBOCK, Texas — KLBK Chief Meteorologist Jacob Riley has your Monday evening Ag-Journal weather update.
After last week’s beneficial rainfall, many are hoping to see more this week! If you’ve been hoping and praying for rain, you’re going to love the forecast for later this week. Over the past week, portions of the South Plains received over 1″ of rainfall. Unfortunately, others didn’t receive any measurable rain. This rain from this event was not taken into account for last week’s drought monitor update, which is why we saw such a drastic increase of level D3 extreme drought around the region. Improvement is expected as of this week’s update.
As growing season is kicking off, many farmers are hesitant to put seeds into the ground due to just how dry some soils still are. By this time next week, some areas will have received more than 3″ of rainfall! If you plan on planting this week, I would suggest doing it sooner than later.
Monsoon moisture will drastically increase from Friday through Sunday. In addition to the heavy rainfall, we may be dealing with some severe weather too. Some of these storms could produce 60-70 MPH winds gusts, and hail up to half-dollar sized (1.25″ in diameter). Isolated larger hail events will be possible. Locally heavy rainfall is also expected to lead to some flooding.
Our extended outlook, through the middle of May, supports the idea of a surplus of monsoon moisture and cooler temperatures. If everything works out just right, this could mean major improvement to overall drought conditions around the region! Some areas could see drought improve 2-3 categories! This rainfall really could not be coming at a better time.
Valid: May 8th, 2023
Have a terrific Tuesday, South Plains!
-Jacob
Facebook: Chief Meteorologist Jacob Riley
Twitter: @jrileywx
