Scurry County’s rainfall totals slipped slightly in 2019 from the previous year’s total, and finished slightly below the middle of the pack since 2001.
During the 21st century, 2019 was the 11th wettest year with 22.84 inches of rain. The lowest amount of rain received during a calendar year this century came during the drought of 2011, when the county received only 9.07 inches of precipitation.
The highest local rain total for a year so far this century was in 2004, when 42.74 inches of rainfall deluged the county.
That was only 1.28 inches less than the highest annual rainfall the county has ever recorded — 1941’s 44.02 inches.
The water level in Lake J.B. Thomas dropped sharply over the course of 2019, continuing its downward trend. On Jan. 1 the lake’s capacity was at 25 percent, down from 36.9 percent Jan 1, 2019; and down from 48.3 percent on New Year’s Day 2018. In terms of reservoir storage, the lake dropped from 74,552 acre-feet to 50,722 acre-feet during the year. Jan. 1, 2018, the lake contained 97,335 acre-feet of water.
According to the United States Drought Monitor, Scurry County is not currently under drought conditions, though part of nearby Nolan County, most of Taylor County and all of Sterling County are listed as “abnormally dry,” as are portions of Dickens and King counties to the north.
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