Dryness and drought continue to spread across Texas, prompting a special fire weather warning for certain areas.
Relatively low humidity, a large amount of dry vegetation and high winds prompted the action by NWS Austin/San Antonio (http://1.usa.gov/1MqvPa8).
Counties included in the warning include: Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Edwards, Fayette, Gillespie, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Lee, Llano, Medina, Real, Travis, Uvalde and Williamson.
Although the alert has been issued for specific counties in the region, officials ask all Texans to use caution when similar conditions exist to prevent the further spread of wildfires this time of year.
Nearly 50 percent of the state this week is experiencing dry or drought conditions according to this week’s Water Weekly (http://bit.ly/Uck8QD) from the Texas Water Development Board. That’s compared to 38 percent one week ago.
Central, East and Northeast Texas appear to be the hardest hit with extreme drought while other areas have moved into severe and moderate drought conditions.
The last time this much of the state was in drought was in November 2014.
Per the TWDB, there’s still a 95 percent change of El Niño conditions this winter, which would mean wetter weather. But so far, El Niño has been a no show.