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].