Wet year dispels typical drought concerns – for now

Gladewater and its neighbors are sitting at about 14 percent above the norm for rainfall this year.
Longview’s the center of monitoring by the National Weather Service’s Shreveport Office, and Senior Service Hydrologist Emilie Nipper says the local total’s sitting at 26.92 inches of precipitation almost seven months into 2025.
“That is a little bit more than three inches above normal,” she confirmed, usually 23.64 inches after decades of data.
On the whole, local forecasts are performing as expected season to season.
“Right now, it being summer, this is normally more of our dry pattern. Usually we have higher pressure and dry conditions,” Nipper said. “That’s what we’re expecting for the next few weeks at least.”
Then, typically, there’ll be more rainfall come Fall.
Suffice it to say, “We’re within expectations. We are equal chances for rainfall for the next four weeks. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.”
As usual, NWS meteorologists are keeping their eyes on the potential formation of tropical storms that could move into Texas, including from the Pacific Ocean.
“There’s just the high pressure that’s over us – that can steer the tropics into the region.”
With flood warnings still active in the area, the Sabine River crested above the ‘Moderate’ action level over the weekend, peaking at 32.91 feet Friday afternoon, June 20. It was projected to drop through and out of the ‘Minor’ stage by the evening of June 26.
The Sabine’s a very reactive river, Nipper said, collecting drainage from other areas along its route.
“It looks like we’ll be out of flood by the end of the week but any rainfall we get brings the potential of going back into flood again.”
Meanwhile, with rainfall above average this year, there’s no drought outlook at the moment.
“We are going to have to watch that,” Nipper said. “At least we’re starting out the summer without any drought, so that is a good thing.”