NewsChannel 10 Chief Meteorologist Dave Oliver said conditions have improved dramatically in recent weeks, though some areas got more rain than others. The biggest gains came in the west, he said, from New Mexico through the western Texas Panhandle into the Oklahoma Panhandle. "The drought has really gotten better there," Oliver said. An area near Childress in the southeast also improved.
Some pockets still sit in severe drought. A corridor east of Amarillo to west of Shamrock, through Clarendon and Lake Greenbelt, needs more precipitation.
Oliver said the region is in a strong El Niño, one of the strongest in a long time. That pattern typically brings more storm systems and moisture, which favors above-normal rainfall and snow going into fall and winter. He said the atmosphere is already starting to respond, with help from tropical systems coming off the Pacific.
For farmers, the rains have been heavy, slow soakers instead of runoff. Moisture has seeped deep into the soil, creating a moisture profile for winter crops.