Latest Posts

Here’s What Climate Change and Urban Sprawl Look Like in Texas

The climate is changing, and Texas is growing. For a bird’s eye view of these developments, NASA has put together a ‘State of Flux‘ image gallery that shows how climate change, urbanization, and natural disasters have changed certain geographic features in Texas, and across the world. The gallery puts two satellite images side-by-side to show the changes. [...]

Stopping a Hurricane’s Storm Surge: Texas Considers What Will Work

The "Centennial Gate" would be built parallel to the Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses the Houston Ship Channel

Petrochemical companies are spending billions of dollars to expand facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast. Which means when the next hurricane hits, there will be just that much more expensive infrastructure that could be damaged by the massive amount of seawater — or “storm surge” — pushed inland by the hurricane. “There’s more development, more [...]

All Signs Point to Strong Hurricane Season

Hurricane Sandy strikes the East Coast on October 28, 2012. Forecasters are predicting an active hurricane season this year.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season, and forecasters think it might be a doozy. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts this coming season will produce more than 13 named storms. An average season produces 12, but the amount of hurricanes and major hurricanes is predicted to be above average as [...]

Hurricanes May Be Needed to Help Pull Texas Out of Drought

http://youtu.be/OWBX3QesGnQ Some parts of the state may find themselves in the strange position of actually needing hurricanes this summer. Victor Murphy, climate program manager at National Weather Service Southern Region, says tropical storm landfall could be the best hope to get rain to parts of Texas that desperately need it. Even though much of the state experienced [...]

New Hurricane Outlook Shows Increased Chance of Storms

The sun rises behind the Storm Memorial in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike on September 18, 2008 in Galveston, Texas. The sculpture was dedicated to remember the 6,000 killed when a hurricane hit the island in 1900.

Texas finds itself in the peculiar position of needing just the right storms this summer. Perhaps a light tropical depression that would bring rain to the parched parts of the state, but not bring damage to the coast. So it’s with a keen eye that the state looks to the updated summer hurricane forecast out [...]

New Tools for Hurricane Alerts and Disaster Preparedness

Workers prepare to remove a sailboat washed up onto the edge of the highway into Galveston by Hurricane Ike September 21, 2008 in Galveston, Texas.

Summer is almost here, and that means hurricanes are just around the corner, too. To help prepare for evacuations, a new digital billboard system went into action today in three counties in and around Houston at the start of Texas’ Hurricane Preparedness Week. The billboards will usually carry ads (they were paid for by Clear Channel [...]

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