Climate Change in Texas

Until moving to Austin last August, I have predominately spent most of my life in the U.K.; growing up in the north of England, I experienced cold, grey winters that seemed to last for five months followed by a mildly warm summer that would inevitably last for less than six weeks. It was quite a rarity to open the curtains and see blue sky. However, when this would magically happen, we would all make sure to stay outside for as long as possible, where we would vitally replenish our deprived vitamin D stores.

Fast forward to the present day and I can verify that my vitamin D levels are certainly the highest they have ever been; I now expect to see blue sky when I open my blinds in the morning. And as a Brit deep in the heart of Texas, I can also verify that it gets hot here. However, what I find most intriguing is how abnormally hot it has been all year round: last semester, I remember the temperature would suddenly drop one day to the next (perhaps from 25 degrees Celsius to 9 degrees Celsius and then falling further the day after). I would consequently think that this was the start of the Autumn, as Texas should experience colder temperatures during the winter period. But then, temperatures would soar back up to previous levels and my confusion would intensify. 

It made me wonder whether this truly was Texas’ climate. I did a bit of researching and perhaps to my lack of surprise, I found that this weather is not typical of Texas. Last year, Texas experienced the third-warmest year on record, just behind 2012 and 2011, whilst October and November experienced temperatures that were 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average temperatures (Sadasivam, 2017a). Furthermore, Austin-Bergstrom airport recorded 26 days with temperatures 26.7 degrees Celsius or higher this winter period, breaking the previous record of 16 days (Sadasivam, 2017b). And additionally, February has now been declared as the warmest February on record in Texas; the average temperature was 14.1 degrees Celsius compared to the long-term average of 9.4 degrees Celsius (Sadasivam, 2017b).

These figures are especially disheartening when you take into account that 2016 was an El-Nino year: during an El-Nino, temperatures tend to be colder than average in Texas (State Climate Office of North Carolina, nd). El-Nino conspires against warmer temperatures for the region, yet temperatures records still broke. Texan bluebonnets have bloomed earlier this Spring and cotton has been planted two weeks earlier than average (Buchele, 2017). All of this makes me wonder what would happen during La-Nina, when the area is expected to experience warmer than average temperatures.

The temperature anomalies I have witnessed here in Texas all demonstrate how climate change is playing an influential role in the region’s weather patterns. And even though temperature anomalies recorded earlier in the year cannot provide any clues for weather patterns later in the year, I am happy that I will not be around in Texas during the hottest months of the year - just in case.

Just one of the days I was enjoying the unusual heat in December

References

Buchele, M. (2017) Seeing Wildflowers Blooming Early on Texas Roadsides? Blame La Niña & Global Warming [Online]. Austin: KUT. Available at: http://kut.org/post/seeing-wildflowers-blooming-early-texas-roadsides-blame-la-ni-global-warming [Accessed 20th March 2017].

Sadasivam, N. (2017a) 2016 Climate Recap: Record Temperatures, Warm Winters and Heavy Showers [Online]. Austin: The Texas Observer. Available at: https://www.texasobserver.org/2016-climate-recap-record-temperatures-warm-winters-heavy-showers/ [Accessed 20^th March 2017].

Sadasivam, N. (2017b) Last Month Was the Hottest February on Record in Texas [Online]. Austin: The Texas Observer. Available at: https://www.texasobserver.org/weather-texas-warmest-february-record/ [Accessed 20^th March 2017].

State Climate Office of North Carolina (nd) Global Patterns - El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) [Online]. Raleigh: State Climate Office of North Carolina. Available at: http://climate.ncsu.edu/climate/patterns/ENSO.html [Accessed 21st March 2017].  

Discovery is the common theme

I’ve spent over six months in the States and all of a sudden, there is now only three short months left of my year abroad. Recently, someone asked me: ‘what’s the biggest culture shock you have experienced since arriving here?’ Although in theory this seems like a fairly light-hearted and easy question, it got me thinking. Thinking quite a lot.

As I mentioned in my second blog post, I knew very little about Texas and Austin so I didn’t really know what to expect. However, I have indeed found out that there is a rather big culture difference between here and home. We may share a language, but even then there are many differences: for instance, the astonished and slightly bewildered looks when I said currants (those red berries…). They just had no idea – that was kind of funny. Or our differing sense of humours… I attended an improv comedy night last semester and surprisingly, I just didn’t find it that funny. Now that was kind of sad.

However, my reply to that surprisingly difficult question was the religious difference between here and home; I don’t know many people who are religious at home, specifically Christian. This isn't surprising because now more people identify themselves as non-religious than religious in England and Wales, with that difference being higher between millennials (Sherwood, 2016). Here in Texas, in addition to the other states I have travelled to, religion still seems to play a prominent role in people’s lives, even among the younger generation; I know many UT students that practice Christianity and identify themselves as Christian. This was especially evident yesterday during Ash Wednesday when I saw lots of students on campus with a cross marked on their forehead. 

This is just another discovery I have made during my time here in the States. And that’s what I have realised links my blog posts altogether: a common theme of discovery. This may be as my first few weeks in Austin, familiarising myself with the campus and the city, or finding out Austin is succumbing to the forces of gentrification, in addition to exploring Texas’s liberal and green sides, or finding out the great facilities UT Austin has to offer. As I said before, I do indeed have only three months left but it is certain that I will make many more discoveries within that time.

References

Sherwood, H. (2016) People of no religion outnumber Christians in England and Wales – study, [Online]. London: The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/no-religion-outnumber-christians-england-wales-study [Accessed 1st March 2016].