Heavy May showers after light April flowers
The Highland Lakes area has seen heavy rainfall throughout May following a relatively dry April. Despite the wet weather, improving drought conditions, and the end of the dry La Niña weather pattern, the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis is still below 50 percent.
May is traditionally the wettest month of the year in Central Texas, and 2025 was exceptionally so. The average rainfall in May in Burnet is about 3.83 inches, but that figure was dwarfed by measurements from Lower Colorado River Authority rain gauges across the Highland Lakes this month.
May 1-30, 2025, rain totals by location:
- 10.5 inches at East Lake Buchanan
- 9.38 inches north of Burnet
- 8.04 inches near Buchanan Dam
- 7.94 inches in Kingsland
- 7.82 inches in Burnet
- 6.39 inches in Cottonwood Shores
- 5.68 inches in Marble Falls
April 1-30, 2025, rain totals by location:
- 1.37 inches at East Lake Buchanan
- 1.83 inches north of Burnet
- 2.11 inches near Buchanan Dam
- 2.01 inches in Kingsland
- 1.73 inches in Burnet
- 1.81 inches in Cottonwood Shores
- 1.96 inches in Marble Falls
The rain came too late for the Central Texas spring wildflower season, which was hindered by drought conditions in the preceding fall and winter months.
Those conditions are improving though, with Burnet and Llano counties mostly escaping extreme and exceptional drought ratings as of May 27, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The monitor uses a six-tier scale to rank drought conditions starting with None and followed by Abnormally Dry, Moderate Drought, Severe Drought, Extreme Drought, and finally Exceptional Drought.
Highland Lakes counties are still mostly in the throes of a moderate drought, with their southern halves experiencing severe drought conditions and smaller portions seeing extreme drought conditions.
Just last week, on May 20, 47.77 percent of Burnet County was in an extreme drought but that has since dropped to 13.8 percent. In that same timeframe, the county was at 90.4 percent severe drought conditions, which has been reduced to 47.77 percent.
On a larger scale, the La Niña weather pattern that developed in January abated in April, bringing a milder ENSO-neutral status. The El Niño/ENSO-neutral/La Niña climate phenomenon is a global climate pattern determined by the warmth of the surface water in the Pacific Ocean, which has an impact on weather around the world. Typically, La Niña conditions mean drier weather for Central Texas, El Niño wetter weather, and ENSO-neutral more balanced.
Even with all of the rain and improving conditions, the Highland Lakes reservoirs of Buchanan and Travis are still depleted after several dry months in late 2024 and early 2025.
The combined storage of the two lakes is 49 percent, with Buchanan at 54 percent capacity and Travis at 44 percent capacity as of May 30.
The LCRA issued Stage 2 drought restrictions in March when the lakes were below 50 percent combined storage and the prior three months of inflows were less than the 25th percentile of historic averages.
Under Stage 2, LCRA water users must restrict their overall use, with a goal of reducing demand by 20 percent.
Stage 2 restrictions will only be lifted once the combined storage of Buchanan and Travis reaches 55 percent.