Following the 2022 trend, April didn’t bring enough showers to bring May flowers.
For the fifth consecutive month, less than one inch of precipitation fell at Boerne Stage Field, continuing to worsen drought conditions in Kendall County. According to the National Weather Service Office in New Braunfels, the location that keeps track of weather in this area, 0.91 inches of rain was recorded, or only 36 percent of the 2.52 inches that normally falls during the fourth month of the year.
And, that total comes on the heels of the 0.57, 0.78 and 0.39 inches that accumulated in January, February and March, respectively. Last December, 0.36 inches was recorded.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Kendall County currently is in extreme and exceptional drought, which encircles the entire Hill Country area. The northern part of the county is in worse shape than the rest, according to the drought map.
Exceptional drought is the worst level recorded by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Information from the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District lists water table levels dropping. In its last update, April 14, the water level is 5.84 feet lower than it was on March 30 and 16.82 feet below the April average.
Through the first four months of the year, Boerne has received 2.65 inches of precipitation. The normal amount through the first third of the calendar year is 8.53 inches. That computes to only 31 percent of the average amount received during the period.
The high-water mark for April came on the 26th when 0.35 inches of rain fell. That was the most precipitation to fall on a single day in Boerne since 0.37 inches was recorded on Feb. 1 and is the second-highest one-day total this year.
Boerne has not received a half-inch of rain or more in a 24-hour period since 1.14 inches fell on Nov. 4, 2021.
Almost all of April’s rain fell in the second half of the month with 0.16 inches coming on the 18th, 0.28 inches coming on the 20th, 0.05 inches coming on the 27th and 0.03 inches coming on April 30. On April 11-12, 0.02 inches fell on both days.
In mid-April, the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District moved into Stage 2 drought conditions, which basically means a more limited watering allowance for residents and businesses. At the time, the district’s 43 monitor wells were seeing drooping water levels with five reaching record lows for the month.
CCGCD Director Micah Voulgaris said last month Stage 2 means there is a 20 percent reduction in production use for permitted uses and it introduces the new watering schedule for sprinklers and automated lawn-watering systems. Additionally, the watering schedule for lawns is introduced based on home addresses.
Now that Stage 2 is in full effect across the groundwater district’s service area, homes with automated sprinklers, soaker hoses or drip irrigation are limited to watering once a week, and pools may only be filled with groundwater on the same designated watering day. All sprinkler system operations are limited to hours before 10 a.m. and after 8 p.m. to minimize evaporation.
Sprinkler schedule days are dictated by the last number of an address in the county. Those ending in 0 or 1 may operate Monday, those ending in 2 or 3 may operate Tuesday, those ending in 4 or 5 may operate Wednesday, those ending in 6 or 7 may operate Thursday and those ending in 8 or 9 may operate on Friday.
Temperatures
As far as temperatures, 90 degrees only was reached four times, with a high of 95 recorded on April 6 and 13. On 18 other days, the thermometer reached the 80s. On April 26, the temperature peaked at 67 degrees.
The low temperature for the month was 37 degrees on April 8-9. On most days the thermometer dipped into either the 50s or 60s.
The month was considerably warmer than normal as the average high was 83.2 degrees, or 4.4 degrees above normal. The average low was 56.4, or 2.6 degrees above normal. The average temperature for the month was 69.8 degrees, or 3.5 degrees above the average.
Forecast
The short-term forecast calls for a chance of rain or storms on Wednesday night through Thursday. Highs through the week should be in the mid to upper 80s with lows in the mid to upper 60s.
The long-term, threemonth forecast for May through July predicts temperatures well above normal. The precipitation forecast for the same period, however, calls for normal to slightly below normal rain.
Traditionally, May is the wettest month of the year in and around Boerne. Last year, 12.39 inches of rain accumulated during the month.
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