Drought, wildfires, and extreme weather — is this the new normal for Texas?
Even as the situation has improved for some thanks to a relatively wet winter, other parts of the state are still in the worst stage of drought.
Just how much damage has the record single-year drought done to Texas? For the first time, you can see an interactive map and several visualizations that show just how severe the drought has been. On our new interactive web app, ‘Dried Out: Confronting the Texas Drought,’ you can see the intensity of the worst single-year drought in Texas’ history; […]
A few months ago we spoke with Cliff Frohlich, a seismologist and Associate Director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics, about the connection between a recent string of earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” In the interview, Dr. Frohlich told us that fracking can directly cause earthquakes, but only in very rare cases. “In the […]
A report published in this month’s Journal of Glaciology traces the evolution of West Antarctica’s glaciers. The study, produced by the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), reveals that parts of West Antarctica’s floating ice fleet are slowly but surely breaking apart and sliding into surrounding sea waters. The team’s conclusions reflect data taken from nearly […]
A conversation with a leading Texas scientist about what role climate change played in the drought.
You’ve probably seen them hovering at your windows or waiting at your door. A few may have even flown into your house. They look like giant mosquitoes, and they appear to be everywhere this season. Say hello to the Crane Fly. As Texas A&M University points out on its site devoted to the fly, “large […]
This article was reported by PBS Newshour in collaboration with StateImpact Texas. All this week we’ve been posting videos and reports from a series on the drought by PBS Newshour done in collaboration with StateImpact Texas. (And a ten-minute television segment aired Thursday night on PBS, which you can watch here.) The series is part […]
The drought has taken a toll on every Texan, and some of the worst hit have been the state’s ranchers and farmers. New numbers from the state this week provide some grim statistics on their losses. For some context, StateImpact Texas sat down with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Q: So what do these updated […]
Tonight PBS Newshour will a special report on the drought in collaboration with StateImpact Texas. You can tune in to Newshour or watch the segment above. For the full online report, visit PBS Newshour.
It’s official: the current Texas drought has been the costliest in history, resulting in $7.62 billion in agricultural losses, according to an update today from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A&M University. That’s nearly twice as high as the previous record, $4.1 billion in losses during the 2006 drought, and equal to nearly half […]
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