SAN ANGELO – Thursday will be the 61st day of 2022 that the afternoon high temperature reaches above 100 degrees in San Angelo as the heatwave and drought continue to close in on the record of 100 days set in 2011. July is already the hottest on record in San Angelo and the forecast shows triple digits for at least the next ten days.
While it has been oppressively hot, weather conditions have not risen to the level required to issue a Heat Advisory or Excessive Heat Warning. According to the National Weather Service, a Heat Advisory can be issued when the temperature is forecast to reach 103 degrees for two consecutive days or the heat index is forecast to be 105 degrees for 2 straight days.
San Angelo and West Texas are in the grips of a significant drought. Reservoirs, lakes, ponds, tanks, rivers and streams are drying up as a lack of rainfall to replenish water supplies combines with high temperatures, low humidity and constant winds to cause major evaporation. Now is the time to begin seriously conserving water until the drought cycle is broken by consistent and steady rainfall replenishes area water supplies.
The significance of the drought cannot be overstated. Staple crops like cotton in the Concho Valley are almost nonexistent. In most cases, there was not enough soil moisture in drylands cotton fields for plants to germinate and irrigation can only do so much to mature a cotton crop. Expect a significant decrease in the number of bales of cotton harvested this fall.
That means that farmers won't have crops to sell and that has a ripple effect across the entire economy. If the area agriculture industry suffers significant losses, so do all other sectors of the economy.
There is no significant chance in the weather patterns forecast heading into the fall months so there could be a major decrease in the replenishing of the water supply over the winter months heading into planting season next spring.
This is a developing story.
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