Usually, I am likely to accept the word of experts when they proclaim something about which they’ve acquired lots of knowledge.
My instinct is being tested, though, just a tad by a report from the U.S. Drought Monitor’s office.
It says Texas’s drought is over. Finished. Kaput. Drowned out.
http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/20/texas-drought-done/
Hey, I know we’ve had a lot of rain. The Texas Tundra — aka the Panhandle — has been blessed beyond measure by abundant rain this spring and well into the summer.
We’re barely halfway through the year and we’ve already surpassed by a significant margin the region’s annual average precipitation amount. More rain is sure to come. Late in the year, we can expect snow.
But the Drought Monitor says the drought is over.
Our playas are full. Our reservoirs are filling up. Lake Meredith, the region’s primary surface water source, now is well more than 50 feet deep, about double its depth from the worst of the drought in 2013. Water authorities are pumping water out of the lake and supplying it to cities, such as Amarillo.
My wife and I drove to Allen — just north of Dallas — this past weekend and were blown away by the vast expanse of green we saw every mile of the way. We had to remind ourselves that this is the middle of July, in Texas, for crying out loud!
Is the drought over? Well, the experts say it is.
I think we’re going to keep acting, though, as if it’s still got its grip on us.