"A city administrator looks out at the Gulf of Mexico from this Southeast Texas town, wondering what vicious hurricanes it may spawn. In the Panhandle, a farmer tries new techniques to keep soil from turning to dust. In West Texas, ranchers watch prairie grass die. Others grow algae as water becomes too salty for other crops. And statewide, reservoirs dry up. Want to see what happens when the impacts of climate change are felt? Well, just look at Texas, some scientists say."

"While Gov. Rick Perry disagrees with scientists who say global warming is at least partly caused by the human release of heat-trapping gases, state agencies are adapting to weather changes that have already brought a historic drought, higher temperatures and sea level rise that contributed to nearly unprecedented sea surge during a hurricane.

'Are we in a cycle ... or is this something more permanent? I don't think anyone knows for certain,' said Bob Avant, director of bioenergy programs at Texas A&M AgriLife Research Station in College Station.

'But you have to prepare,' he said."

Ramit Plushnick-Masti reports for the Associated Press April 6, 2013. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"News Analysis: Getting Serious About a Texas-Size Drought" (New York Times) [3]

"Drought Increases Drilling Concerns" (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal) [4]