Environment Grim predictions say 9 more years of Texas drought possible

[The Helper]

SAN ANTONIO - A devastating Texas drought that has browned city lawns and caused more than $5 billion in damages to the state's farmers and ranchers could continue for another nine years, a state forecaster said on Thursday.

"It is possible that we could be looking at another of these multiyear droughts like we saw in the 1950s, and like the tree rings have shown that the state has experienced over the last several centuries," State Climatologist John Nielson-Gammon told Reuters.

Some 95 percent of the state is listed as being in either "severe" or "exceptional" drought by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor, and Nielson-Gammon said the last 12 months have been the driest one-year period on record in the Lone Star State.

The state's worst recorded drought lasted from 1950 through 1957 and prompted the creation of artificial lakes all across Texas to supply water to a state that at the time had a population of 15 million - a whopping 10 million fewer than today.

Grim predictions say 9 more years of Texas drought possible

A devastating Texas drought that has browned city lawns and caused more than $5 billion in damages to the state's farmers and ranchers could continue for another nine years, a state forecaster said on Thursday.

www.nbcnews.com

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I live in Texas and the drought is bad. My yard is dead. The lakes and rivers are dry. There are huge fires. It just rained the other day though. Not enough of it...

 

[Lobster]

Only suggestion on lawns I can give is ZeroScaping. Means that you can have a good yard with no plants to water. Also, rocks aren't normally flammable, helping with fires. If done right, looks good as well. I guess it won't really help with the drought itself though. Finally it could cost a bit of money.

 

[Varine]

Enjoy your dehydration, sukaz!

 

[Sevion]

QUICK! GO BUY A TON OF BOTTLED WATER!!!

 

[Varine]

Or move to somewhere that isn't a desert?

 

[XXXconanXXX]

That's a little scary.

And Varine, most of it's not desert.

 

[Accname]

How about cutting a big chunk of ice out of the arctic glaciers and transporting it to texas?

 

[Sevion]

How about cutting a big chunk of ice out of the arctic glaciers and transporting it to texas?

Because it can totally afford it

 

[xPass]

How about cutting a big chunk of ice out of the arctic glaciers and transporting it to texas?

Then there'll be flood before the worst of the drought

 

[tom_mai78101]

Try taking a 9 year long vacation at the offshores of Gulf of Mexico?

 

[FireCat]

Oh crap, that is horrible!
Hmm 9 more years? How far ahead can you predict the weather really?

 

[The Helper]

Oh crap, that is horrible!
Hmm 9 more years? How far ahead can you predict the weather really?

They are looking at tree rings over hundreds of years and see a pattern of drought like this.

 

[FireCat]

They are looking at tree rings over hundreds of years and see a pattern of drought like this.

Okay well, lets hope they're wrong about it anyway.

 

[Varine]

That's a little scary.

And Varine, most of it's not desert.

It will be within nine years... enjoy your desert (for the record I'm jealous, I wish we didn't have zoning laws. You know hard it is to find a couple of acres up here that I can get a variance for minor manufacturing on for less than a hundred grand?)

 

[The Helper]

It's still pretty droughty

 

[tom_mai78101]

Do you then agree the prediction from 2011 is grim still?

 

[The Helper]

It has been pretty bad. Was a good prediction. Is not as bad in Houston as it is in other areas of Texas. Texas is a big place.