2022 ends with only 17.34” rainfall
By Sam Waller
Drought conditions brought on by a La Niña weather system were the major weather story in Shackelford County in 2022, and it doesn’t appear conditions are going to change in early 2023.
Meteorologist Mike Castillo of the National Weather Service office in San Angelo said the system caused warmer and drier weather locally last year.
Shackelford County received 17.34 inches of rainfall in 2022, according to data from the NWS co-op station in Albany, 11.58 inches below the annual average of 28.92 inches.
Drier air also led to warmer weather, Castillo said. Albany’s average mean temperature for 2022 was 65.1 degrees, a full degree higher than the historical average.
“Obviously, drier air and slightly warmer temps for the year led to the summer months where we had the record heat,” Castillo said.
In June, the average mean temperature was 83.7, 4.2 degrees warmer than normal. The discrepancy grew in July with an average mean temperature of 88.7, 5.5 degrees warmer than average. August was comparatively cooler, but still hot with an average mean temperature of 84.4, 1.7 degrees above normal.
Castillo said projections for the first three months of the new year indicate little change coming.
“The seasonal outlook for January, February, and March came out in December,” he said. “We’ve got a 33 to 40 percent chance of having above-normal temperatures for the rest of the winter going into the spring. As far as precipitation, we’re looking at a 40 to 50 percent chance of below-normal precipitation for the rest of the winter going into the spring.”
Castillo said that was to be expected with a La Niña pattern.
“It looks like that’s going to continue at least through the winter months into the spring,” he said. “That’s not to say we can’t get some strong cold fronts before the spring, but the pattern that we’re in, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more warmer than cooler days the rest of the winter.”
And the rainfall outlook isn’t promising.
“Unfortunately, we’re not seeing a whole lot as far as rainfall,” Castillo said. “It doesn’t look good for precipitation for the rest of the winter going into the spring.”
