{"id":3326,"date":"2011-12-30T09:30:55","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T15:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=3326"},"modified":"2013-11-15T20:35:15","modified_gmt":"2013-11-16T02:35:15","slug":"travel-in-time-to-post-drought-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/30\/travel-in-time-to-post-drought-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel in Time to Post-Drought Texas!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3338\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Jump into your time machine and take a trip to post-drought Texas. \" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3338\" title=\"time machine2\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2-620x326.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2-620x326.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2-220x115.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/time-machine2.jpg 970w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">J.D. Hancock via Flickr http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jdhancock\/<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jump into your time machine and take a trip to post-drought Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Years from now, when Texans talk about 2011 they\u2019ll probably remember one thing above everything else: the weather.<\/p>\n<p>The drought , the extreme heat and the fires that came with it have made this an historic year for Texas. And it will leave a mark that will be felt long after the drought is over.<\/p>\n\n<p>How will it be felt? Let&#8217;s take a hypothetical ride to the grocery store.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Imagine this. It\u2019s the year 2014. The Texas drought is thankfully over. And you\u2019re in your car driving to the supermarket.<\/p>\n<p>On your way you realize the view out your windshield isn\u2019t quite as green as it once was. There are stretches of dead trees, their bark slowly peeling off. <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/20\/hundreds-of-millions-of-trees-could-be-lost-to-the-drought\/\">The ground is littered with fallen limbs<\/a>.<\/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\/2011\/12\/20\/hundreds-of-millions-of-trees-could-be-lost-to-the-drought\/\">Hundreds of Millions of Trees Could be Lost to the Drought<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/19\/what-is-the-texas-drought-doing-to-roads\/\">What is the Texas Drought Doing to\u00a0Roads?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/14\/things-we-lost-in-the-drought\/\">Things We Lost in the Drought<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/07\/your-burgers-about-to-cost-more-thanks-drought\/\">Your Burger\u2019s About to Cost More Thanks to The Texas Drought<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/11\/07\/ten-things-you-should-know-about-the-texas-drought\/\">Ten Things You Should Know About the Texas Drought<\/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\/2011\/08\/WaterinTexas1-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/water-in-texas\/\">Your Guide to Water Issues In\u00a0Texas<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Then, you remember the words of Jim Carse, an Urban Forester from the Texas Forest Service. Carse said the effect of drought can take years to become apparent and trees, stressed in the current drought, will be dying off even after it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You\u2019ll see the signs of broken limbs and falling limbs and bark falling off, and something called hypoxolin canker which is kind of a white sluffy kind of fungus on the bark of a tree. If you start to see those kind of things the tree is definitely a risk,&#8221; he told StateImpact, Texas.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Depressed by the view, you focus on your driving. Back when the state was still in drought you noticed cracks opening up in the asphalt. But that was a couple a couple years ago and the road still seems to be getting even bumpier. How could this be?<\/p>\n<p>The you remember the words of John Hurt, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What happens is that you get water into these cracks, then during the winter it will freeze an expand and then you get potholes,&#8221; Hurt told StateImpact, Texas.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3405\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 200px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Potholes along a cemetery road in Dallas \" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/2859913198_00855a7d21_z.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3405\" title=\"2859913198_00855a7d21_z\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/2859913198_00855a7d21_z-300x450.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/2859913198_00855a7d21_z-300x450.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/2859913198_00855a7d21_z-220x330.jpg 220w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2011\/12\/2859913198_00855a7d21_z.jpg 426w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo by flickr user Coltera\/Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Potholes along a cemetery road in Dallas<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hurt says crews are working to seal up cracks caused by the drought, but there\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/19\/what-is-the-texas-drought-doing-to-roads\/\">no way to permanently reverse damage to roads<\/a>. That could make for larger repair bills in years to come, and even the need to replace some roadways.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, you\u2019re at the grocery store.\u00a0 You were going to pick up a steak for dinner, (apologies to readers who don\u2019t eat meat), but <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2011\/12\/07\/your-burgers-about-to-cost-more-thanks-drought\/\">you\u2019re shocked by the prices<\/a>. It\u2019s been raining again, but it seems like the cost of beef is still going up!<\/p>\n<p>In the next aisle over you see Pete Bonds, Vice President of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He&#8217;s happy to explain those high prices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When it does rain, we ranchers will start retaining heifers to build these cow numbers back. There\u2019s going to be a time there when there\u2019s actually going to be less beef on the market,&#8221; says Bonds.<\/p>\n<p>The reason an end to the drought means even less beef in the market for a year or so is this: When ranchers are confident that they can support larger herds, they\u2019ll stop slaughtering the limited cattle they have remaining. They\u2019ll keep some of those cows to breed. So a heifer that would have ended up on the dinner plate won\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>In Bond&#8217;s words, the heifer is &#8220;not going through the beef system to produce beef. She is going to go through the ranching type system to produce calves.\u201d<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So there you have it: just three ways the drought will still be felt even years from now. But if the future seems a bit bleak, consider this: our scenario assumes the drought will be over. Could be, it\u2019s 2014 and it&#8217;s still with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years from now, when Texans talk about 2011 they\u2019ll probably remember one thing above everything else: the weather. The drought , the extreme heat and the fires that came with it have made this an historic year for Texas. And it will leave a mark that will be felt long after the drought is over. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":3336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[61,85],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326"}],"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\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3326"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3868,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions\/3868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}