A&M Climate Expert: Get Used to Hotter Summers

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) _ The state climatologist of Texas projects that 115-degree heat won’t be surprising a few decades from now and that triple-digit temperatures will become the norm.

Texas A&M University professor John Nielsen-Gammon says models that he’s analyzed show temperatures rising as much as 1 degree each decade, meaning that by 2060 the mercury would be 5 degrees hotter than now. He said that every region of the state is expected to be affected.

Nielsen-Gammon said that unusually warm summers the past two years — South Texas in 2009 and North Texas this year — are signs of what’s ahead. A recent Texas A&M University news release states problems that could follow include water shortages and more severe droughts.

The good news is that Texas winters will be milder.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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