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Contact: Jason Marton
jason.marton@tamuk.edu or 361-593-4143

Dr. Jim Norwine speaks on South Texas climate as part of Victoria College's John W. Stormont lecture series

KINGSVILLE (March 8, 2006) — Dr. Jim Norwine, Regents Professor of physics/geosciences at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, delivered the South Texas Historical Association Lecture at the annual John W. Stormont Lecture Series, held Feb. 2-3 at Victoria College.

The topic of Norwine’s lecture was "The Future Climate of South Texas: Yes, It Will Continue to Keep the Riff-Raff Out!"

In the presentation, Norwine described the unique and challenging qualities of the South Texas climate, one that he said is unlike most other parts of the country.

“South Texas climate is both wet and dry,” said Norwine. “There is moisture in the air—more than anywhere else, with the exception of parts of Florida. We’re also the end of wet climates before you head west. But even with all that moisture, we suffer drought problems, due to high pressure aloft which acts as a kind of lid, which often prohibits the frequent convectional thunderstorms one might expect in a region so humid and hot as ours .”

Norwine cites his research and that of a majority of other scientists as proof that global warming is a reality. Through computer models, Norwine found that four degrees of warming will occur in South Texas by the end of the century, with rainfall levels staying about the same.

According to Norwine, he and other colleagues from Texas A&M-Kingsville will take the modeling climate results and spend a year looking at how they will affect coastal ecology, pollution and other important environmental and geological issues. Their results will then be published.

The John W. Stormont Lecture Series on South Texas is a two-day conference held annually in February and is sponsored by the Victoria College Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences and funded in part by the College, the Kathryn Stoner O'Connor Endowment and the John W. Stormont Endowment.

Norwine will present an extended version of the lecture during the 25 th anniversary Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute symposium, “Frontiers in Wildlife Science,” happening Wednesday through Saturday, April 5-8, at A&M-Kingsville’s Tio and Janell Wildlife Research Park and the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi.

This page last updated 10 March, 2006