Texas Drought

History:   This very dry drought has been going on for more than 4 years. It started in October 2010. This drought has been worse than the drought in 1950. 2011 was the driest year for Texas with an average of 14.8”.2011 also set new records for low rainfall from March through May, and again from June through August. The high summer temperatures increased evaporation, further lowering river and lake levels.

 

 

Some research from questions are listed below?

 

 How does the drought affect daily life?

 

 

• Drought is not a word with a precise definition. Three weeks without rain is enough to trigger a drought. A drought is simply a period during which rainfall is markedly lower than the average for that time of year in that place, and consequently water is in such supply that domestic and industrial users, farmers, and wildlife are affected.

• Signs of the withering drought that hit Texas the past few years can be seen on the menu at Louie Mueller Barbecue in this Central Texas town. Taped over the price of brisket and beef ribs are updated prices -- $19.99 a pound and $20.99 a pound, respectively -- the mark of spiraling prices.  "It's incredibly concerning," owner and third-generation pit master Wayne Mueller said. "We're moving away from barbecue being the basement of the culinary food chain into something altogether different. It's becoming quite pricey." A confluence of drought leading to fewer cows in Texas and the soaring popularity of Texas barbecue has led to a historic beef shortage. Once a staple of the working class and eaten at food trucks or picnic-table dives, smoked brisket is climbing into the pricey realm of white-linen steakhouses. High prices have even made the beef cut a hot commodity on the black market. San Antonio Police recently issued an alert for a "brisket bandit" who has made off with thousands of dollars worth of the meat from restaurants. "Brisket is so expensive right now," said Chris Conger of the Smoke Shack, one of the pilfered eateries. 

 

 

 

EQ: How does the drought affect daily life?

 

• The 2011 direct financial losses for Texas crop and livestock agriculture are estimated to total $7.62 billion. That is more than $3.5 billion larger than the loss estimated for the 2006 drought, which was the previous costliest drought. The losses represented about 43% of the average value of Texas agricultural receipts over the last four years. Texas produces, on average, about $16 billion in cash receipts annually, which equals close to 6% of the nation's agricultural cash receipts. Drought losses are summarized for some major agricultural products.

• The drought also affects peoples property. If a person bought a house viewing a lake for 500,000, the lake dried up so the houses property value went down because their is no more lake.

• It affects people that have boats. The lake is drying up so there is not enough water to boat on, so they have to pay more money to move the boat to a different lake. Then they have to pay for a new storage spot.

 

 

 

Why is the drought so severe in Texas and not in any surrounding states?

Many Texans say that this is because of climate change in Texas. Texans also say it is also because of made-made global warming, but that is not it actually. Last year's huge drought was a freak of nature that wasn't caused by man-made global warming, a new federal science study finds. Scientists say the lack of moisture usually pushed up from the Gulf of Mexico was the main reason for the drought in the nation's midsection. Five different federal agencies looked in to why forecasters couldn’t see it coming. Lead author Martin Hoerling says, “It is one of those events that comes every few hundred years.” He says that climate change has made no significant part into leading to the drought. Many scientists have tried to prove that this part of global warming, but many other scientists have proved that these statements are not valid.

 

 

 

How does the drought affect Texas’s Economy?

 

 

Dwindling supplies of water and electricity are imperiling the state's economic future, a Texas Senate committee was told Tuesday. Plants that generate power require access to about 40 percent of the state's water supply each year but consume only about 3 percent of that total, according to the industry. The remainder is returned to nature after it cools generators. Plants have been impacted catastrophically. Cotton fields are going to waste and many companies have also been impacted by the deadly drought. Slowly, the TExas economy is going down by trying to fund it

This summer's record stretch of 62 days without rain in North Texas, after four years in which some areas of the state have had almost no appreciable rain, has left thousands of acres of crops wasted, dried up lakes and helped spark 650 fires.