University Of Texas Drought 2012 Update - Some Relief In North, Situation Still Critical Elsewhere
The University of Texas’s new Center for Integrated Earth System Science is hosting its first public event today: a water forum entitled “Texas Drought 2012 — Are We Prepared?” The morning talks featured status reports from various state and regional agencies, while the afternoon featured water research tools and capabilities from the University of Texas. The speakers provided a broad overview and update of the drought, its impacts, agency responses, and issues raised by the drought. So I’ve picked out some highlights from each of the morning talks and included them here.
John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist, Texas A&M University:
Overall, drought conditions have improved since September. But only in the north-central and eastern parts of the state have large reservoirs seen water storage increase by more than 5% of capacity. Much of the rest of the state has not seen improvement in reservoir levels, and a few major reservoirs in the western half of the state remain dry.
The Climate Prediction Center is calling for enhanced chances of below-normal rainfall through spring, which is a problem since May is the most important month for rainflow and reservoir replenishment. In the summer, the odds favor above-normal temperatures, which would imply increased water demand and increased lake evaporation. Thus, there will continue to be water supply issues across most of the state through summer.
On the longer term, there’s nearly a 50% chance of a third La Nina, and the longer-term sea surface temperature patterns will continue to favor drought for another several years. Climate change does not seem to be reducing rainfall, but the ever-increasing temperatures will continue to increase evaporation so future water won’t go nearly as far as before.
EDIT
http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/2012/02/texas-drought-2012-an-update-from-ut/
= new reply since forum marked as read
