It's no secret that over the past few years rain has been scarce in and around Wichita Falls. Mother Nature has been quite stingy with the rainfall in North Texas since the beginning of 2010 forcing us into stage four drought disaster with stage five drought catastrophe very close on the horizon. (UPDATE: As of 5/17/2014 Wichita Falls is under stage 5 drought catastrophe).

So just how much rain has Wichita Falls missed out on during this 3-year drought? The answer: almost 41 inches.

According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, the average precipitation from October 2010 to April 2014 is 100.6 inches and Wichita Falls has only received 60 inches. That puts us at a 40.6-inch deficit.

In other words, Wichita Falls needs almost three and a half feet of rain to get back to normal.

The current levels of our source water lakes are as follows: Lake Arrowhead is at 23.8 percent and Lake Kickapoo is at 31.3 percent, and the combined total is 25.8 percent. Wichita Falls will enter stage five drought catastrophe if the combined lake levels fall below 25 percent.

According to KFDX Meteorologist Bryan Rupp, May is a very important month for rainfall in Texoma as it is normally one of our wettest months. So here's to that remaining true.

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