Texas Goes Green After Largest Rainfall In Decades
As countless Discovery Channel specials have taught me: Throw enough water at any desert region and in a little more than a few days, you'll be staring at a lush paradise. Such is the case with Texas which — together with Oklahoma and Kansas — has received 330 percent its normal rainfall over the past several weeks. Every major river basin in the state flooded — a feat that has not occurred since 1957.
The result? Dense vegetation is now covering a massive portion of the state as seen in dramatic satellite images taken between June 11 and June 20th. From the article,
The deep, emerald green indicates regions where plants are growing more quickly or robust than average, and the dark, almost-black color marks where vegetation was most dense. Brown spots point to clouds or water on the ground, which in some cases may mask plant growth.
Quite the amazing development. Seeing something so generally "sandy-colored" turn into a lush region is a testament to the power of nature. Before Texans start considering climate change a feather in the cap, however, one must take into account that these massive rains killed more than a dozen people and displaced thousands more. In a time of year when Texans are fighting wildfires, they're now faced with copious water. Too much. Are such devastating unusual acts of nature set to occur more frequently or is this simply a "Every 50 Years" event? Can we afford to sit and ponder?
Tags: Climate Change, environment, nature, texas
- Uncategorized
July 11th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
What Kind of Plants Are They?
Not enough time to grow trees, flowers, grass or anything else that we generally associate with plant life. Could it be algae? Will it last and spark additional growth of higher plants? What if turns red like that poisonous algae that is sometimes found in the ocean? Can we adapt if it becomes more frequent?
Probably so…
July 11th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I recently flew into Austin and could not believe the lushness everywhere. I grew up in Oklahoma and now live in austin and literally can’t recall ever seeing so much green. It was beautiful yet bewildering all at the same time.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:53 am
“Not enough time to grow trees, flowers, grass or anything else that we generally associate with plant life.”
You are stupid.
First of all, there isn’t time for whole new crops of grass to take root where they’ve never grown before, but you’ll absolutely find that grass in usually barren areas that’s just barely clinging to existence will suddenly spring back into robust clorophyll-bearing health, given this kind of enormous windfall of rain.
But wait. I’ve got more.
You see, down here in Texas…as well as in almost all areas of the United States and Europe, we have these things called deciduous trees. You may have seen them. They’re those tall things made mostly out of wood.
You may also have noticed that sometimes these trees have green things on them. We refer to them as “leaves.” In the winter, they all drop off- only to return in the summer after it gets warm.
However, trees also require water to grow their crop of leaves. Are you still with me?
Good.
One of the great things about deciduous trees is that they can adapt to varying growth conditions. Longer winters or droughts result in less dense- and less lengthy- periods of summer growth (this is why, if you cut one down and count its rings, you can see where the winters were long or the rains heavy by comparing the thickness of the growth rings).
So here’s the part where we put it all together. This might require you to use your brain. I promise it probably won’t hurt you that much.
When it RAINS A LOT. The LEAVES on the DECIDUOUS TREES grow BETTER.
Before assuming that this is too short a period of time to see the change illustrated in the satellite image, think about the fact that ALL surviving deciduous trees transform themselves from bare and brown to some sort of green, leaf-bearing state in a matter of a few weeks. You’ve SEEN that happen. This is merely a heightened version of that effect.
PLEASE USE THAT THING INSIDE YOUR SKULL BEFORE POSTING.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:30 am
actually it’s probably is flowers and grasses, things grow very strangely in the desert especially once they get that much water.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Bobby B.
I can safely guess that you did not grow up in that desert.
I can testify just how quickly ‘weeds’ grow in the desert. Just a few days and you have a real plant.
Believe me it is plant life.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:22 am
It’s not true anyway. I live in Arizona (the state in the upper left in the picture) and I can’t see any of that from here.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Unregistered User–
It's perfectly fine to register your disagreement with another commenter, but please refrain from name-calling — there's no need for it.
_______________________________________
Jeff McIntire-Strasburg
Senior Editor
Green Options
jeff@greenoptions.com
July 12th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
windowLooker, read the excerpt from the originating article:
“…indicates regions where plants are growing more quickly or robust than average,…”
It’s not an actual satellite image, it’s a representation of plant growth compared to the annual average this time of year. The image also has an anomalous growth percentage scale at the bottom, to show what all the color hues ACTUALLY represent.
July 16th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Triffids.
Thats is all.