After one of the hottest and driest summers on record, Central Texas is in the grips of an extreme drought.

Several counties, including parts of western Travis and Hays counties, are also under an "exceptional" drought — the most severe kind of drought.

On Thursday the U.S. Drought Monitor issued new "exceptional" drought designation for Lampasas, Burnet, Blanco, Gillespie, Comal and parts of Travis and Hays counties.

An "exceptional" drought designation means there are exceptional and widespread crop and pasture losses and shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells creating water emergencies.

"This is about as bad as the drought can get," said LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose. "We are at the bottom of the scale as far as impact from the drought. We are looking at very little rain, very hot temperatures, very low lake levels, low aquifers, and a lot of impact, such as wildfires and crop failures."

Rose said there are some indications the drought may last for a couple more months.