AUSTIN (KXAN) – Thursday morning’s drought update showed continued worsening of drought continues through the Austin Metro Counties. Central and eastern Travis, Williamson and northeast Hays County all saw a one category worsening of the drought. Worsening drought conditions also occurred in parts of Caldwell and Bastrop Counties.

This is what the newest drought monitor report looked like for Central Texas.

Exceptional Drought is the worst level of drought on the 5 category Drought Monitor report.

Compare this week’s drought monitor to last week shows you where the worsening occurred, right through the heart of the I-35 corridor.

Last week's drought report (August 11th)
Last week’s drought report (August 11th)
Drought Monitor (August 18th)
Drought Monitor (August 18th)

We saw a big improvement in the drought in South Texas thanks to the 5-10″+ of rain that came through over the weekend.

Drought Monitor (August 18th)
Drought Monitor (August 18th)

Still, 97.21% of Texas is in some level of drought with more than 26% in Exceptional Drought. Both categories were slightly down from last week’s drought update thanks to the improvements to our south.

Thankfully Central Texas is expecting a wetter and cooler pattern of weather.

Stay with the First Warning Weather Team as we track the changing weather pattern.