Climatologists say this may be the new normal for Texas!
Ten years from now the average annual temperature in Texas will be 2-3 degrees hotter than it was during the first part of this century. The number of triple-digit days Texans can expect per year will be double what it is now. These are just two ways life in Texas could (let’s be honest) get worse by 2036, according to a new report from John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas' state climatologist.
The report, "Extreme Weather in Texas, 1900 to 2036," paints a picture of how quickly and severely global climate change is affecting Texas by looking at historic climate trends and using climate models to extrapolate what kind of weather to expect 10 years from now. John Nielsen-Gammon is the state climatologist of Texas.
“The trend is, frankly, so obvious,” Nielsen-Gammon said Thursday during a press conference presenting the report. “Since the year 2000, there’s barely been a single year in which the average minimum temperature has been below the long-term average.”
“That's really the definition of a new normal,” he added. Like many previous studies, "Extreme Weather in Texas" also anticipates more serious rainstorms in Texas. Those rainstorms, it estimates, will lead to a 10% to 15% increase in flood frequency in urban areas in 10 years unless flood mitigation efforts are increased.
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