{"id":22851,"date":"2013-01-10T09:54:55","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T15:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=22851"},"modified":"2013-01-10T09:54:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T15:54:56","slug":"record-hot-year-could-just-be-the-middle-of-a-record-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/10\/record-hot-year-could-just-be-the-middle-of-a-record-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Record Hot Year Could Just Be the Middle of a Record Drought"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_22871\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/10\/record-hot-year-could-just-be-the-middle-of-a-record-drought\/prelim_significant_weather_us2012\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-22871\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-22871\" title=\"Prelim_Significant_Weather_US2012\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/01\/Prelim_Significant_Weather_US2012-620x447.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/01\/Prelim_Significant_Weather_US2012-620x447.gif 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/01\/Prelim_Significant_Weather_US2012-300x216.gif 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/01\/Prelim_Significant_Weather_US2012.gif 1526w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Map by NOAA<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Extreme temperatures in 2012 brought plenty of extreme weather to the country.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As you&#8217;ve probably heard by now, the numbers are in: 2012 was the warmest year in recorded history for Texas (technically tied with 1921, due to rounding) and the country as a whole. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncdc.noaa.gov\/sotc\/\">New data<\/a> from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show that 2012 was a full 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit above average, and a full degree hotter than the previous record year, 1998.<\/p>\n<p>Smell climate change? You&#8217;re not wrong. The record warmth is part of an established trend linked to growing emissions of heat-trapping gases. &#8220;Climate change is a fairly large part of it,&#8221; State Climatologist <a href=\"http:\/\/atmo.tamu.edu\/profile\/JNielsen-Gammon\">John Nielsen-Gammon<\/a> says. &#8220;There&#8217;s some contribution from <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/tag\/la-nina\/\">La Ni\u00f1a<\/a>, which tends to make for warmer temperatures, especially in the winter time. But we&#8217;ve\u00a0 seen\u00a0temperatures\u00a0statewide go up about a degree, a degree-and-a-half, Fahrenheit since the 1970s.&#8221; While 2011 had a record hot summer, overall temperatures were warmer this past year.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/04\/latest-drought-outlook-dry-spell-could-continue-in-texas\/\">Latest Drought Outlook: Dry Spell Could Continue in Texas<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/07\/the-year-in-texas-weather-warm-not-enough-rain-and-filled-with-disaster\/\">The Year in Texas Weather: Warm, Not Enough Rain, and Filled With Disaster<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/08\/lcra-approves-plan-that-will-likely-cut-off-rice-farmers-this-year\/\">LCRA Approves Plan That Will Likely Cut Off Rice Farmers This Year<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/08\/why-this-weeks-rains-wont-bust-the-drought\/\">Why This Week&#8217;s Rains Won&#8217;t Bust The Drought<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/01\/08\/how-climate-change-will-impact-texas\/\">How Climate Change Will Impact Texas<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/11\/119835727-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/drought\/\">Everything You Need to Know About the Texas Drought<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/IMG_1236.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/life-by-the-drop\/\">Life By the Drop: A Special Report on Drought, Water and the Future of Texas<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Extreme temperatures make extreme weather much more likely. NOAA notes in its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncdc.noaa.gov\/sotc\/\">new report<\/a> that &#8220;2012 was the second most extreme year on record for the nation. To date, 2012 has seen 11 disasters that have reached the $1 billion threshold in losses, to include Sandy, Isaac, and tornado outbreaks experienced in the Great Plains, Texas and Southeast\/Ohio Valley.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, Texas is currently in a multi-year drought, with some parts of the state especially hard-hit. 95 percent of the state is in some level of drought, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/droughtmonitor.unl.edu\/DM_state.htm?TX,S\">latest US drought monitor map<\/a> out today, with the state&#8217;s reservoirs only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waterdatafortexas.org\/reservoirs\/statewide\">65 percent full<\/a>, according to the Texas Water Development Board.<\/p>\n<p>And water battles are heating up across the state. Conflicts on Medina Lake (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.waterdatafortexas.org\/reservoirs\/individual\/medina\">9 percent full<\/a>) and the Highland Lakes of Central Texas (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lcra.org\/water\/conditions\/river_report.html\">41 percent full<\/a>), are pitting <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/12\/13\/central-texas-water-conflict-heats-up-again\/\">cities against agriculture<\/a>. Within the last week, two high-profile water rights cases made news. In one, a county in North Texas is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/01\/04\/texas-oklahoma-water-case-be-heard-supreme-court\/\">suing Oklahoma for water from the Red River<\/a>, a case now headed to the US Supreme Court. In the other, Texas has asked the Supreme Court to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tceq.texas.gov\/assets\/public\/agency\/01-08-13-motion-complaint-brief.pdf\">hear their grievances<\/a> over a similar water compact conflict with New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure is on the state legislature, which convened this week, to act. One proposal gaining traction is to take<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/11\/29\/texas-lt-gov-wants-to-use-rainy-day-fund-for-water-projects\/\"> $1 billion out of the flush Rainy Day Fund<\/a> to start a &#8220;water infrastructure bank&#8221; that could help jump start water supply projects throughout the state. Other ideas have focused on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/01\/03\/water-conservation-and-texas-legislature\/\">funding more conservation efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So what does the immediate forecast call for?<\/p>\n<p>While Texas is likely to get hotter, it isn&#8217;t yet clear what&#8217;s happening with the current drought. It could end up being one on par with, or worse, than the drought of record of the 1950s, Nielsen-Gammon, the State Climatologist, warns.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Of course we <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/11\/01\/el-nino-changed-his-mind-cooler-wetter-winter-no-longer-forecast\/\">didn&#8217;t do a real good job this past year<\/a> predicting La Ni\u00f1a\u00a0[the weather patten largely responsible for the drought],&#8221; he says. &#8220;This Spring, getting into May or June, things are set up to do one thing or the other. So about the time when we&#8217;re either getting or not getting rain during the wettest time of the year, is when we&#8217;ll find out how the odds are going to stack up for the following winter,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>If a La Ni\u00f1a\u00a0returns this fall, it could spell more trouble for an already-parched Texas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s really going to tell the story about whether this is going to be a three-year drought,&#8221; Nielsen-Gammon says, &#8220;or something worse than that.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you&#8217;ve probably heard by now, the numbers are in: 2012 was the warmest year in recorded history for Texas (technically tied with 1921, due to rounding) and the country as a whole. New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show that 2012 was a full 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit above average, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":22871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[61,122,110,31,85],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}