TX On The Cutting Edge - Of What A Climate-Destabilized America Will Look Like - AP

[hatrack]

EDIT

The most devastating climate event to hit Texas so far was a historic drought in 2011 that cost the state $7.6 billion in agricultural losses. John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist, said the dry stretch was exacerbated by temperatures that were on average nearly 5.5 degrees higher. He attributes some of that excess heat to global warming. The drought -- pegged as the worst one-year dry spell in state history -- served as a wake-up call. Now, the Legislature is considering establishing a $2 billion revolving loan program as part of a plan to spend $27 billion on water infrastructure over the next half century. Farmers are testing new and different kinds of seeds and crops. Ranchers are buying cattle breeds that require less water. Coastal communities are rethinking development.

With Texas in a rush to adapt, it could help others understand what works and what doesn't. David Ford, who raises corn, cotton and cattle on about 10,000 acres in the northern Panhandle, says rainfall has decreased so significantly, he built himself a "strip till rig" and changed the way he turns his soil to try to soak up the little rain that falls. After he built his rig, dozens of his neighbors also adopted the practice, he said.

"I know our rainfall is less, our patterns have changed," said Ford, recalling that 25 years ago he could be certain a line of thunderstorms in August would roll across the land, giving everything 2 to 3 inches. "We haven't had that kind of rain in 10 years." Now, thunderstorms hit one small area -- like a field two miles from his house -- and miss the homestead, he said.

Avant, the A&M researcher director, is overseeing a project near Pecos in far West Texas. There, land once prime for cotton, alfalfa and cantaloupes, is now inundated with aquifers too salty to grow most crops -- except, maybe, algae, a seaweed that some want to use for biofuel. So A&M researchers are looking for a way to effectively and cost efficiently grow algae in the desert. As rains decrease, rivers, streams and some reservoirs are also becoming saltier, and this research could make those resources useable.

EDIT

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Provides-Clues-of-Climate-Change-Impacts-201780221.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. Great contribution, hatrack.

hatrack did a nice job summarizing, but there's a lot more at the link. Please click and read.

[phantom power]

2. well, at least they know they're free

or something

[justhanginon]

3. Texas drought prayer

I don't understand how they can still be in a drought. Didn't they have a pray for rain event a couple of years ago led by Oops Perry? I would think that little old drought thing would have cleared up by now. A message from on high perhaps? Just asking!