Wilbarger County returns to extreme drought after brief summer improvement

Wilbarger County has returned to extreme drought as persistent heat and a lack of widespread rainfall erase much of the improvement that developed during late spring and early summer.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday, Aug. 27, places Wilbarger County in D3, or extreme drought. The weekly map reflects conditions through Tuesday, Aug. 25. D3 is the second-highest drought classification, exceeded only by D4, or exceptional drought.

The deterioration occurred in just one week. Wilbarger County was classified as D2 severe drought in the Aug. 20 Drought Monitor, as well as in the Aug. 13 report.

That means the county moved from severe to extreme drought between Aug. 18 and Aug. 25.

The change continues a year-long cycle in which Wilbarger County has repeatedly improved following rainfall only to slip back into more serious drought.

Wilbarger entered 2026 in D2 severe drought. The Jan. 8 Drought Monitor listed Wilbarger as the driest of the immediate North Texas counties surveyed at the time, while neighboring Wichita County was in D1 moderate drought.

Conditions worsened during the spring. On April 2, Wilbarger moved from D2 into D3 extreme drought. Hardeman and Foard counties also were classified in D3 at the time.

Wilbarger remained in extreme drought through most of April. The April 23 report still listed the county at D3 even as several surrounding counties improved following spring thunderstorms.

By April 30, however, Wilbarger had improved one category to D2 severe drought.

Additional rainfall during late spring and early summer produced further regional improvement, although Wilbarger continued to lag behind much of the surrounding area. On June 18, Wilbarger remained in D2 while Wichita County had improved to D0, or abnormally dry, and Archer County was no longer considered to be in drought.

The improvement finally reached Wilbarger in July. By July 16, the county had dropped to D1 moderate drought, its least severe classification of the summer. At that point, Wichita County was only abnormally dry and several other North Texas counties had no drought classification.

The relief was short-lived.

Wilbarger was back in D2 severe drought by Aug. 13 and remained there Aug. 20 before deteriorating to D3 in the Aug. 27 report.

The county therefore went from moderate drought in mid-July to extreme drought in about six weeks.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest national assessment describes rapid drought development across the South as excessive heat combined with limited rainfall. The report said dry weather and excessive heat continued to promote rapid-onset drought, with deteriorating soil moisture and agricultural conditions in portions of Texas and surrounding states.

Wilbarger County’s longer-term precipitation figures also show why several rounds of rainfall have not been enough to eliminate the underlying drought.

Drought.gov ranks July as Wilbarger County’s 33rd-driest July in 132 years of records, with precipitation 0.98 inch below normal. January through July ranked as the county’s 41st-driest such period in 132 years, running about 3 inches below normal.

Drought.gov estimates all 13,535 people in Wilbarger County are in an area affected by drought. A month earlier, about 70% of the county’s population was in drought, illustrating the rapid expansion of dry conditions during the second half of summer.

Agriculture remains particularly exposed. Drought.gov estimates drought conditions encompass about 64,099 acres of wheat, 50,100 acres of cotton and 14,310 acres of hay in Wilbarger County, along with approximately 19,085 cattle and 834 sheep.

The county’s drought problems also have been persistent enough to trigger government action. Wilbarger was included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s Aug. 15 amended renewal of the state’s drought disaster proclamation.

USDA also has included Wilbarger among Texas counties eligible for assistance connected to federal drought disaster designations. Federal rules allow drought-related disaster eligibility when an area experiences D2 severe drought for eight consecutive weeks or reaches D3 extreme or D4 exceptional drought during the growing season.

Thunderstorms crossed portions of Wilbarger County Thursday, Aug. 27, after the cutoff for this week’s Drought Monitor. The National Weather Service reported storms moving through Vernon, Chillicothe and other portions of the county Thursday morning.

Any rainfall from those storms was too late to be included in the Aug. 27 drought classification. Its effect, if sufficient to change drought indicators, would first be considered in the next U.S. Drought Monitor.

The county’s return to D3 does not mean conditions are as severe as they can become. D4 exceptional drought remains one category higher. But the 2026 history demonstrates how entrenched the drought has become: Wilbarger began the year in severe drought, reached extreme drought during April, improved to moderate drought by July and has now returned to extreme drought before the end of August.

For Wilbarger County, sustained recovery will require more than scattered thunderstorms. Repeated, widespread rainfall will be needed to replenish soil moisture and begin overcoming the precipitation deficit that has accumulated through much of 2026.