I have had two so far.
In August of 2012, at least 300 trees suddenly died around my house. They were soapberry trees, killed by the Mexican Soapberry Borer Beetle. According to the scientists from the Texas Forestry Service, these beetles are now able to survive further north. The wildfire drought of 2011 and the following very warm winter, allowed these beetles to swarm. They attacked and killed every adult soapberry tree on our property. Afterwards our home looked like it belonged in a horror movie.
But the personal climate change event we are experiencing right now, may overshadow the first.
I live in Navarro County, Texas. From the morning of October 23 to the morning of October 25, we received 21 inches of rain. That following Friday, we received 6 more inches. Tomorrow it is forecast that we may receive 4 inches of rain. This could be 31 inches of rain in two weeks. At least a third of the gravel county roads washed out. The annual average rainfall for our area is 39 inches.
In August we received 13 inches in one day. Last May set a record as the most rain in recorded history. At this point we are almost at double the annual rainfall with two months to go.
When we chat about this with local people, most say, “isn’t this weird?” I have not heard anyone say, “wow . . . our climate is changing fast.”
I think that probably many people in Texas are just so thankful for the rain. In between our three big rain events, we had about 60 days of heat and drought and 45 days of heat and drought. We are all happy to see everything green up again. Plus, now the lakes are full. Recently, we had 3 years of drought and fracking that brought our lake levels 10+ feet low. That was terrible! Now we can fish and swim and enjoy our lakes again.
So . . . what is your personal climate change event?
A personal climate change event is some weird weather thing that you have never seen before. And when you google it, you discover that it has never happened in that extreme manner.
Please write a diary about your personal climate change event, or describe it in the comments.
Thanks! Awareness is everything.