The U.S. Drought Monitor officially took Wichita Falls off it's list of cities experiencing a drought this morning. Just about a decade ago, Wichita Falls was in a very scaring situation.

Wichita Falls being in the normal stage for combined lake levels is something that all of us like to see. The Wichita Falls City Council has their meeting tomorrow and we will see if they vote to end current drought restrictions in the city. Looking back, it's not too long ago Wichita Falls was in the worst drought the city had ever seen.

Great Wichita Falls Drought 2010-2015

Just about a decade ago, our Wichita Falls lakes looked like the photo above, dry as a bone. In 2013, Wichita Falls started making national headlines for how bad the water situation was becoming. 2011 was a brutal summer for Wichita Falls with over 100 days that exceeded a temperature over 100 degrees. Typically, Wichita Falls averages 28 days of the summer over 100 degrees.

That year, Wichita Falls received 13 inches of rain in total. What got us out of our most recent drought was the historic rainfall for April. 10.32 inches of rain dropped on us over the past couple of weeks. Wichita Falls barely got that for the entire year back in 2011.

Lowest Lake Levels in Wichita Falls History?

Hopefully we never come close to the 2010-2015 drought situation ever again. At its absolute worst, our lake levels reached just under 19% capacity, which is considered catastrophic levels. This is the lowest that lake supplies have ever been since they were built in 1901. That drought officially ended in 2015 when that year Wichita Falls received 50.5 inches of rain which was the most rain Wichita Falls had seen in one year at the time. Of course it was too much rain and parts of Wichita Falls flooded.

The cycle of flood, drought, repeat for Wichita Falls feels like a never ending cycle. The video above from 2015 looks eerily similar to what Wichita Falls has looked like this week. Enjoy the lakes at normal capacity while we have it because the drought portion of the cycle will return like it always does.