Brown: Texas Drought May be "Here to Stay”
Joe Brown (Contact)
Texas Drought Losses Could be Worst Ever
August 2, 2009
By Joe Brown (Contact)
Times Record News
To the old-timers still alive, the West Texas drought of the 1950s was a killer.
I moved to San Angelo in 1963, and all the ranchers could talk about was how bad it was and how many of their friends lost their cow herds and even their ranches, which had been in the family for two or three generations.
Photo: A sign warns swimmers about the dangers of swimming in Hurst Creek Cove, despite it being nearly dry due to less than average rainfall for the past several years. The cove, which is one of the most visible reminders of the drought, was recently home to the floating restaurant Johnny Fins, which had to relocate and eventually close due to the low water. (Patrick Meredith)
I remember one rancher saying to a coffee table of friends that if it hadn’t been for hunting lease money and oil lease money (not production), he never would have survived.
And at that time in the early 1960s, yearlings were selling for $20-22 cwt. but gasoline was about 28.9 cents, and feed was cheap.
What about now?
A drought of that severity isn’t here, but it sure is in South and West Texas.
Our lakes are mid low, but there’s a major drought out there, and there is little hope as cattle and wildlife are dying from starvation and lack of stock water.
How would you like to be the mayor of San Antonio, which has been growing so rapidly, or how would you like to own a resort or recreation land in that famous Hill Country?
I recently talked to Dr. Larry Stein, area horticulturist in Uvalde, and he said the drought is unbelievable. It’s hurting peach orchards and the wine-grape industries.
A Texas A&M University climatologist is now saying this drought might be here to stay.
Dr. Gerald North (are you ready for this title?), professor of atmospheric sciences and oceanography at Texas A&M University, says this summer’s 100-plus temperatures and parched soils may represent the norm over the next few decades, not the exception for much of Texas.
Here in Wichita Falls, the rainfall is still below normal so far this year.
El Niño generally produces wet winters in an area of the south from Florida through Texas, he said.
North stressed his prediction isn’t based on his research alone, but on information from thousands of scientists from 100 countries that indicates the tropical climates are expanding northward.
It is a gradual thing, said North. “This seems to have happened in the past and will continue in the future.” He recalled the drought of the ’30s and then the drought of the ’50s.
“It could be a fluke that persists for a decade, he said, but added, “My guess is, it is here to stay.”
Central Texas: It is extremely dry. Stock tanks are going dry, and there is no stock water.
Photo: A buoy marks what use to be a swimming area in Hurst Creek Cove in Lakeway. (Patrick Meredith)
Coastal Bend: Extreme drought conditions with record-high temperatures.
East Texas: Most counties are dry, and a few counties haven’t had rain since May. Herds are being culled as supplemental feeding continues.
South Texas: Drought conditions continue with temperatures 100 to 109 degrees. Vegetable growers are saying heat is killing watermelon and tomato vines.
West Central Texas: Extremely hot, dry conditions with record-high temperatures.
Austin to San Antonio: A recent photo of Lake Travis showed that great and beautiful lake almost dry.
Wichita Falls: The city is half an inch below normal for the year, but area lakes are about half-filled and need runoff water.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2009/aug/02/texas-drought-conditions-may-just-stick-around/
www.standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Earth_Changes/090803.TX.drought.to.stay.html