Nat'l Weather Service: 2011 Driest On Record For Texas
HOUSTON (AP) -- Drought-stricken Texas suffered its driest year on record in 2011 as well as its second hottest, the National Weather Service said Friday.
The average rainfall for the state last year was 14.88 inches. The previous driest average total was in 1917 with 14.99 inches.
The weather service said 2011's average temperature was 67.2 degrees. Texas' warmest year on record was in 1921 with an average temperature of 67.5 degrees.
Last year Texas suffered its worst single-year drought, its largest agricultural losses and the hottest summer in U.S. history. From June through August, Texas averaged 86.8 degrees, beating out
Oklahoma's 85.2 degrees in 1934.
The drought started in fall 2010 with the arrival of the La Nina weather condition that causes below-normal rainfall. La Nina is back and forecasters say the drought is expected to drag on through at least through May.
Victor Murphy, a climate service program manager for the weather service in Fort Worth, said forecasters were expecting below normal rainfall across the state in 2011 because of La Nina. "But I think the magnitude of the drought and the severity of the drought was obviously not expected," he said.
Last year scant rainfall and scorching temperatures dried up many riverbeds, prompting some wildlife biologists to rescue threatened fish that are found only in one Texas river in the world.
Ranchers and farmers have been hit hardest. The most recent estimate shows crop and livestock losses at $5.2 billion and that number was expected to rise.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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