KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsState climatologist: Drought may last another decade

State climatologist: Drought may last another decade

Amarillo, TX - It's causing controversy across the state, reports from a Texas climatologist saying the drought will last another decade.

This past summer's above average temperatures and dry conditions is probably not far from many of your memories, and state climatologist Doctor John Nielsen-Gammon says those conditions will return.

He says the weather patterns are hard to predict for the next ten years, but drought conditions over the next decade are a large possibility.

He adds that does not necessarily mean it will be a non-stop dry-spell,  but we will have a higher chance of similar or possibly worse conditions over the next several years.

"It looks like we are back into a la Nina type weather pattern, which brought dry weather last year also, so unfortunately it looks like we're looking at a second year of drought, we need an awful amount of rain fall to make up and it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon so probably  two years at this point," said Nielsen-Gammon.

Nielson-Gammon says the upcoming year looks to be another dry one, with next summer having even more severe water shortages, elevated fire dangers and drought problems than this year.