HOUSTON sets RECORD, HOTTEST/DRIEST YEAR on RECORD! Records for most 100° days and latest 100° day! La Nina returns.>>>>>

I live in central texas. When i was outside leveling out a mount of dirt, i lightly dragged a rake across the ground and it pulled up 90% of the grass, dead roots and all. Normally wehave lots of u derbrush clogging up the outskirts of our yard where the forest meets but virtually all of it is dead and dried up. Nothing but trees survive beyond our sprinkler system.

We have fewer birds, most our trees are dying or at best have very withered and dry leaves. It is very bad here.

"The drought that has turned Texas and parts of the Plains into a parched moonscape of cracked earth could persist into next year, prolonging the misery of farmers and ranchers who have endured a dry spell that is now expected to be the state's worst since the 1950s.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said Thursday that the La Nina weather phenomenon blamed for the crippling lack of rain might be back soon, just two months after the last La Nina ended. If that happens, the drought would almost certainly extend into 2012.

The extreme dry conditions have been made worse by week after week of triple-digit temperatures, which have caused reservoirs to evaporate, crops to wither and animals and fish to die off by the thousands."

[link to news.yahoo.com]

(bold and underline is mine)