And despite heavy rains and flooding to the north, there is little relief in sight for the South, according to a report issued Thursday by U.S. climatologists.
The "Drought Monitor" report released Thursday from a consortium of national climate experts said that over the last week, the worst level of drought, called "exceptional drought," expanded to cover more than 70 percent of Texas.
And 91 percent of the Lone Star State suffers from either exceptional drought or the second-worst category, "extreme" drought.
"We've had extraordinarily high temperatures and really high wind. It is still bad," said Don Conlee, acting state climatologist for Texas.
Arizona likewise has more than 70 percent of its land in extreme and exceptional drought, up from 68 percent. Louisiana saw exceptional drought spread to 65 percent from 28 percent in the week, while Oklahoma saw it spread to a third of its land from a tenth.
