Oklahoma beats Texas, again. (But for once, I’m glad)
The battle lines have been drawn at the Red River, and the final statistics are in. The competition: Which state had the hotter summer in 2011? According to finalized data just released by the National...
View ArticleEvolution-in-education defenders adopt a new cause: Climate change
The National Center for Science Education has steadfastly defended the teaching of evolution in public schools for three decades, including in Texas. It plans to continue to do so, but now the...
View ArticleAll of state’s largest metro areas now out of the drought
The drought is officially over for much of Texas. You can drive all the way to Dallas. You can drive all the way to Austin. And you can drive all the way to San Antonio. For the state’s largest metro...
View ArticlePrivate spaceflight company to further study south Texas launch site
The city of Houston and many members of Texas’ congressional delegation, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, have expressed concerns about the encroachment of commercial space on NASA’s budget for...
View ArticleWhy isn’t Texas all over the SpaceX proposal to build a spaceport here?
In April SpaceX declared its intent to continue studying South Texas as a possible launch site for its Falcon rockets and Dragon spacecraft. Upon hearing this news I had one thought and two questions....
View ArticleWhen it comes to dirty water, how do Texas beaches compare nationally?
The largest source of pollution is stormwater runoff, which can trigger harmful sewage overflows.
View ArticleHouston and Texas on pace for warmest years on record
At 2:30 this morning I knew the front had finally arrived. That’s because one of the loudest cracks of lightning I have ever heard made me sit bolt upright in bed. Then the winds began to blow....
View ArticleLinkpost | 1.4.13
Good morning, all! Waking up during surgery: This story about failures of anesthesia is terrifying. (The Atlantic) Preliminary Texas climate data for 2012: Depending on the final tally, last year will...
View ArticleElon Musk to testify in Austin today on spaceport plans
Elon Musk will talk to Texas legislators about his proposal to build a spaceport in southern Texas. As you may recall, last summer Musk said Texas was a “leading candidate” for such a spaceport, but a...
View ArticleSpring has sprung. Any chance of getting some April showers?
Spring began Wednesday and wouldn’t you know it, with temperatures in the mid-70s and pleasant overnight lows it felt like it. As both I and state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon have written, the...
View ArticleSummer is Coming: But could Houston have a rare May without a 90-degree day?
Well, the party’s over. Graphically, here’s what the splendiferous first half of May looked like. On the chart above you can see that on only four days did our daily high reach, or exceed normal highs...
View ArticleWhy does north Texas always get hit by tornadoes?
A cluster of deadly tornadoes struck north Texas on Wednesday night, killing six people. This is an important reminder that although the severe weather season got off to a slow start during April and...
View ArticleDynamic leader tapped to ‘elevate the stature’ of A&M’s health science center
Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center is only a little more than a decade old, but it’s getting a dynamic new leader who could really propel the institution into the future. This morning...
View ArticleMost Texans don’t believe humans are causing global warming
There’s an interesting new survey out from the Yale Project on Climate Change (see .pdf report) that provides information specifically about Texans’ views on global warming. At first blush, the results...
View ArticleTexas astronomers discover the most distant known galaxy in the universe
Are you ready to have your mind blown by the awesomeness of science, and the grandeur of the universe? If so, read on. Let’s begin in 2009, when space shuttle Atlantis flew to the Hubble Space...
View ArticleCommercial space official: ‘All indications are’ that SpaceX will build a...
In today’s paper I have a story about how Houston needs to reinvent itself to thrive as the era of commercial space dawns. As part of the article I had an extended interview with Michael Lopez-Alegria,...
View ArticleWell if you want a spaceport in Texas this is promising …
In recent months there have been clear signals that SpaceX in likely to select a site near Brownsville to build a spaceport over other proposed sites in Florida and Georgia. Most recently Michael...
View ArticleTexas, SpaceX announce spaceport deal near Brownsville
It’s been known for awhile that Brownsville was the sole finalist for SpaceX’s proposed spaceport, but now it’s official. Today the state of Texas and SpaceX announced that, contingent upon final...
View ArticleBlue Origin announcement heats up 21st century space race between Florida and...
With Blue Origin’s announcement today that it will launch rockets from Florida the 21st space race just got a little bit hotter. During the 20th century Florida’s space coast was king of U.S. launches....
View Article
