Climate migrating in the US today: the problem with Dallas


People are migrating due to climate change. A Politico article makes it out to be a massive migration. But it is easy to over-estimate the climate related migration trend because there are other factors which may influence migration more. Sorting out the multiple factors is a matter now of guessing. Here is an example of the problem, the large migration wave into the Dallas area from states such as California.

The NY Times tried to pinpoint why Americans migrate internally, be examining migration among over 1,000 localities:

By scoring cities and towns, we let you filter and rank locations according to affordability, the vibrancy of local job markets, exposure to climate hazards, political and racial diversity, reproductive and transgender rights, how long you can expect to spend commuting and whether a place has lots of mountains or trees.

The suburbs around Dallas — places like Plano, McKinney, Garland, Euless and Allen — came up a lot. It’s clear why these are some of the fastest-growing areas in the country. They have relatively little crime and are teeming with jobs, housing, highly rated schools, good restaurants, clean air and racial and political diversity — all at a steep discount compared to the cost of living in America’s coastal metropolises. (by By Farhad Manjoo With Gus Wezerek and Yaryna Serkez)

But Dallas is hot and getting hotter relative to the rest of the country. Among cities with a population greater than 1 million, excluding Phoenix, Dallas is heating up faster than every other city in the country.

The average temperature in Dallas-Fort Worth rose from the 1970s from 65 degrees by 2.5 degrees. With an average annual temperature of 69.8 degrees, 2017 was North Texas’ warmest year on record. By contrast, the average annual temperature in Denver is 50 degrees. Dallas has experienced over 30 consecutive days over 100 degrees; Denver rarely more than 2 consecutive days. (Go here , here and here).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *