The science says the planet is warming

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The record drought and heat wave over much of the country this summer has raised the question again:

Is this a result of climate change?

There is no debate in the scientific community that the planet is warming. In fact, July was the 329th month in a row with global temperatures warmer than average.

Here is how one scientist who performed calculations put it: The odds of this happening at random is a number larger than the number of stars in the universe.

Peter Hierholzer was among those who went to the Barton Creek Greenbelt to seek relief from the current wave of Central Texas heat.

“I mean that’s what you want to do when it’s hot, you want to come out and, you know, get in cold water,” Hierholzer said. “But there’s really no point in coming out here if it’s going to be dry and hot.”

After the record rainfall just a few short weeks ago, the water in the Greenbelt’s creek was more than 10 feet deep. Now, that’s all washed well downstream .

What’s left is a dry creekbed. Expert say that with global warming, a scene like this could become a lot more common.

Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist and a professor at Texas A&M University, says droughts like this one could become more common as the planet warms.

“Last summer, Texas averaged about 5 degrees above normal – and that’s something people noticed,” he said.

Nielsen-Gammon says that the long period of unusually high temperatures, along with a serious lack of rainfall last year, put a strain on the surface water supply.

“We’ve only had a two-year drought right now, but the reservoirs didn’t recharge after the last drought," he said. "So we’re nearing historic low levels at this point. We’re below where we were last year at this time. And it’s going to take longer and longer for the reservoirs to refill – normal rainfall isn’t really going to do it,” Nielsen-Gammon said.

Dr. Kerry Cook is a climate researcher at the University of Texas who studies the impact of global warming on central Texas.

“There will overall be less water in the greenbelt,” Cook said.

Her extensive research shows that in less than 28 years, summer temperatures are expected to be 3-4 degrees warmer than they are at present, causing more than a 50 percent increase in 100-degree days.

She also found that average rainfall will go down, especially in the summer.

“The thing I worry about is it being a green city,” Cook said.