Water + Weather for November 2025

Transcript

Dr. Mark Wentzel - Hydrologist, Texas Water Development Board

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Texas Water Development Board's latest Water and Weather report. I'm Dr. Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist in the Surface Water Division here at the agency. And today, we'll be taking a look at conditions for our state at the end of November.

Let's take a look at some of the big water and weather headlines. Statewide, November was warmer and drier than normal, continuing a trend that began in August. Near the end of November, 54 percent of the state was in drought, up 20 percentage points since late October. As we ended the month, storage in our water supply reservoirs was 74 percent of capacity; little changed from the end of October, and almost six percentage points below normal for this time of year. By the end of February 2026, drought conditions are expected to improve in the eastern half of the state but degrade in the western half.

Let's take a closer look at temperature and precipitation. On these maps, we're looking at both parameters relative to 21st century averages for November. From a water supply perspective, reds, oranges, and yellows mean trouble. On both maps, they show areas with above-average temperature on the left and below-average precipitation on the right.

From a statewide perspective. November was warmer and drier than normal. Many areas were at least six degrees warmer than normal while receiving less than half of normal precipitation. Given those conditions, it's no surprise that drought expanded in November, growing from impacting 34 percent of the state in late October to 54 percent in late November. That 20 percentage point increase came on the heels of a 10-percentage-point increase during October. In late November, an additional 30 percent of the state is classified as abnormally dry, as shown in yellow on the map. Without rain in the next few weeks, these areas are also likely to transition to drought.

As shown by this chart, statewide surface water supplies were little changed in November. The dark line shows storage this year compared to minimum, maximum, and median values for the day of the year from data going back to 1990. Also displayed are lighter lines that show how we did in 2024 and 2023, and a red line that shows how we did in 2011. In November this year, water supply storage increased a few tenths of a percentage point, ending the month at about 74 percent of capacity. That's the first monthly increase since July,but still leaves us almost six percentage points lower than normal for this time of year.

Of course, conditions do vary considerably around the state. In the Houston area, water supply reservoirs are nearly full, while reservoirs near Corpus Christi are less than 20 percent of capacity. Check with your local water provider for watering restrictions that may be in effect in your area. That concludes our report. Until next time, I hope you all stay healthy and safe.