The heavy rainfall that fell Monday night into Tuesday morning has really helped the area lakes.  We have seen lake levels rise 5-7′ in the past few days.  Overall the 1/2 foot surplus of rainfall in 2012 and the above normal rainfall to close out 2011 has really helped to chip away at our terrible drought.  In fact according to the US Drought Monitor, we have seen huge improvements in the drought, even in the past week.  The latest stats show that the state of Texas currently has 10% of the state not in a drought, up from 7% last week, and 0% at the start of the year.  The worst category drought, Exceptional, covered 86% of the state 6 months ago, and still 32% at the start of the year.  The current reading is down to about 18% of the state, and the bulk of that is out in West Texas.  In our area things are much better as well.  In fact, this week the category 3, ‘extreme drought’ was removed from our area.  Currently parts of Hill Country are still under a “severe drought” with most of the rest of our area in a “moderate drought”.  However, looking at the map below just east of I-35 in Travis County, the conditions are just considered “abnormally dry”.

The area lakes are still seeing slight increases, and we even saw boats out on Lake Travis this afternoon, which is a nice sight.  Water temp at Lake Travis is currently in the middle 60s, between 63-65 today, which is still chilly, but with more sunshine forecast and warm temps, the lake should stay in the mid 60s heading into the start of April.