An Interactive History of the Texas Drought

CLIMATE -- April 2, 2012 at 3:44 PM EDT

An Interactive History of the Texas Drought

Click on the map above for an interactive version.

Recently, PBS NewsHour reported from Texas in collaboration with the public media project StateImpact Texas to look at how dry conditions have caused towns to struggle with extreme water shortages.

Now, StateImpact Texas has launched a new interactive application called Dried Out.

The visualization tracks the timeline of the Texas drought's development from June 2010 through present day and looks at the impacts of the drought, including the billions lost in agriculture and the thousands of homes destroyed. It also explores the policy implications of the drought and how scientists and lawmakers are working to mitigate drought impacts now and in the future.

StateImpact also invites readers to share their stories in text, images or sound from their drought experiences that they plan to compile in another story.

Here at NewsHour, we've been looking at how record temperatures have contributed to the severe drought conditions.

You can also join our ongoing discussion on how you're feeling the effects of a changing climate by sharing your insights with us here.

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