As a part of PBS’ new series Coping with Climate Change reporters visit several towns in Texas which has suffered unprecedented drought beginning in 2010. The drought, which climatologists say is consistent with climate change predictions, has led to forest fires, vast tree mortalities, agricultural and livestock losses, and water shortages.
A government report in 2009 predicted increased drought and wildfires in the Southwest, including Texas, with impacts on agriculture and forests. Scientists say droughts like the one in Texas are increasingly becoming a combination of both natural variance and human impact, i.e. climate change.