In a nutshell

I don't like a whole lot about Texas. I left in 1969 (after my four year sentence) with no great desire to go back. 

The western part of the state now stinks of gas and methane (it never did when I was a kid), it takes forever to drive across the bleak no man's land of Fort Stockton through Ozona, the politicians that reside in the lone star state are quite possibly the stupidest in our entire country, besting even Florida and Louisiana, the last time I drove out there I ended up in a cell in Van Horn for two hours while Border Agents took all the doors and panels off my van, looking for marijuana that didn't exist and finding nothing, the pollution in the state is extraordinary, only exceeded by the general ignorance, which is worn like a shiny star upon one's fetid stetson.

Having said that, there is one thing about Texas I love and that is the pecans. Well, the pecans and the 72 ounce steak in Amarillo. I have fond memories of stopping in Quanah, Texas with Leslie on our last cross country jag and buying and eating the best pecans I have ever tasted.

Well unfortunately nothing lasts forever and that includes Texas pecans. See https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/severe-weather-leads-to-total-crop-failure-at-local-pecan-orchard#google_vignette' The state that doesn't believe in climate change is getting hit with a lethal dose.

"We had two years of drought here in a row, and that followed that horrible freeze," Gail said. "We lost about 50 trees totally to drought, completely dead, and then another 80 are super stressed. It is sad, and a lot of people love the pecans, so it's hard."

Scientists are trying to get a hold of and reverse the problem. Climate change is obviously wreaking havoc in the state. Texans are being told to prepare for more extreme weather, heat, fire and floods.

The newly updated assessment of extreme weather in Texas draws on data from 1900-2023 to predict trends through the year 2036, and shows a significant uptick in extreme temperatures and droughts, wildfire conditions and urban flooding risks, among other changes. The report was authored by Nielsen-Gammon, a Regents Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, in collaboration with the nonprofit public policy organization Texas 2036.

“We have national climate assessments, but they can’t do justice to Texas’ specific climate conditions,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “With this Texas-specific study, we focused on observed trends as much as possible rather than emphasizing climate model projections. The historic climate trends are part of our lived experience in Texas, and our report puts them in long-term context.”

In recent years, Texans have come face-to-face with the realities of a warming climate, sweating through record-breaking heat waves and lengthy droughts that have taken a toll on agricultural and water resources in many parts of the state.

“During the past couple of years, we’ve gone through two of the hottest summers on record,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “That has altered the trend of 100-degree days, making the increase even more dramatic than it had been. We’ve also seen new research that indicates that surface water supplies might be becoming less reliable, with increasing evaporative losses coupled with increasingly erratic rainfall.”

According to the report, those trends are expected to continue and intensify, with Texans in 2036 experiencing quadruple the number of 100-degree days compared to the 1970s and 1980s. The report also predicts a 7% increase in water lost through summertime evaporation by 2036.

All part of the good lord's plan, right Texas? By all means keep your head buried in that hot Texas clay. Deny, defend and demise.

A team from UTEP is studying ways to mitigate the Pecan kill.

The research is supported by a grant of nearly $250,000 from the National Science Foundation and led by Hugo Gutierrez-Jurado, Ph.D., associate professor in UTEP’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences.

“Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, which are already having a profound impact on the crops in large agricultural areas across the country’s arid regions,” said Gutierrez-Jurado. “We are seeing decreases in crop productivity due to plant stress from excessive dry and warm conditions.”

Pecans are one of the most economically significant crops for communities across the Chihuahuan Desert region on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, Gutierrez-Jurado said. According to Iowa State University’s Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, the pecan crop in the U.S. alone was valued at $500 million in 2022. 

The UTEP study will look at how drought, heat waves and soil impact the cycle of water and carbon between plants and the atmosphere in dryland agricultural ecosystems. It will focus on two orchards, one in the El Paso area and another in the Conchos River basin near the city of Delicias in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

Similar efforts are being made to save the pecans in Georgia.

If you’ve been watching or reading the news, you’ll have likely seen climate change dominate headlines. And with good reason: it can affect our food supply, and that includes trees bearing the iconic Georgia pecan.

Climate change occurs when greenhouse gasses trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperature to climb. This can spark an early spring, causing plants to bloom earlier than they normally would. And while blossoms may be a welcome sight after a long winter, an early spring makes plants more susceptible to a cold snap. In turn, this increases a growers’ risk of not only crop loss, but of diminished revenue.

It’s no secret that when it’s hot and dry outside, trees require more water. Young (first-year) pecan trees, that don’t yet have enough of a root system, are particularly stressed when the temperature hits the high 90s.

Temperatures higher than 95 °F can kill feeder roots in shallow soil depth, putting more pressure on an already-stressed root system that’s trying to establish itself.

I know that politicians in some southern states are forbidden to use the term climate change. These pecan scientists better watch their back. Dumb is a badge of honor down there.