Texas Wildfires Continue



KTRK-TV ABC 13 Grimes County, TX

Wildfires continue to burn in Texas following what has been a very devastating year in terms of the drought and heat.  According to the Texas Forest Service they responded to over 60 new fires Sunday that burned 32,936 acres; 22 of those were new, large fires.  Evacuations continue for many in the Lone Star State and unfortunately it really doesn't look like much relief is on the way.  The only real silver lining is the extreme heat that has been felt for all of this summer has broken as the jet stream has shifted a little further south.

Many residents and officials had hoped that Tropical Storm Lee would have brought some beneficial rain over the weekend, but instead it remained further east and the strong, dry winds on the backside of the caused a lot of the ongoing fires, or new ones, to spread quickly.  Over the weekend, officials in Texas had made a plea for help from surrounding areas because what little resources they had left from fires earlier in the season were basically gone.

Even though the temperatures have cooled some it really doesn't appear as if any relief in the drought will occur.  Some indications are suggesting that relief won't come until at least November!  The latest drought monitor shows pretty much all of Texas is in an exceptional drought.