After a dry December, drought numbers are ticking up across Texas

DALLAS — After reaching a four-year low in 2025, drought is climbing across Texas.

As of Tuesday, 57% of the state’s land area was in some type of drought. North Texas has mostly been spared so far, with only northern and eastern counties of the region receiving an “abnormally dry” designation, the precursor to official drought.

Drought levels had fallen to only 19% of the state in August 2025 after historic rainfall and devastating flooding the previous month. At the time, Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board, said the recovery in Central Texas was significant enough that he estimated it would take a year of drought to start seeing effects again.

In the months since, rainfall has consistently been below average across Texas. According to the water board’s data, December appeared to be the driest month yet with most of the state only receiving between 0-30% of its usual precipitation.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, less than a tenth of an inch of rain fell last month at DFW International Airport, compared to an average of 2.84 inches.

So far, drought has primarily developed in South and south Central Texas, as well as the South Plains and parts of West Texas.

In some good news: Drought in these areas is still mostly in the early stages. Only 9.3% of the state has reached Stages three and four of drought, when agriculture and farming are often significantly impacted. Before last summer’s drought recovery, that figure had hit 30%.