Rainfall in East Texas Means Lifted Burn Bans

Last week portions of East Texas received some much needed rain after a dry and hot July and first half of August. Prior to the cool front and rain, pretty much all of East Texas was under a burn ban except for a few far northern counties.

During last week's rain event that began Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 19), a good amount of East Texas received some beneficial rainfall, including myself. My yard received nearly two-and-a-half inches of rain just south of Tyler.

This was much needed as I was having to water my yard quite frequently. With several areas of beneficial rainfall, some county judges and/or fire marshals have lifted their bans on outdoor burning. The affected counties are:

• Cass
• Gregg
• Smith
• Upshur

In those four counties it is once again legal to burn outdoors, but it is highly recommended to tend to any burning fire as it can quickly and easily spread and get out of control. Dry conditions could return to East Texas but it appears as if we'll be staying out of the triple digits for now.

There are still though a lot of East Texas counties under burn bans. Those counties under burn bans are indicated on the graphic above according to KLTV.