Important Takeaways:

• Texas earthquakes and wildfires are rivaling those of California
• February was a wild time for Texas, with potentially record-breaking earthquakes in South Texas, record-setting fires blazing the Texas Panhandle while snow blanketed the region, and dry and unseasonably warm conditions for much of the state.
• In just the last month, Texas saw two earthquakes reach a Magnitude 4 or higher. In fact, the February 17 earthquake that shook South Central Texas — there were reports even in San Antonio despite the epicenter being tied to Falls City — was a Magnitude 4.7
• Rubinstein told MySA this would be the largest human-induced earthquake in U.S. history if it’s tied to the fracking industry. That determination could take up to six months to make.
• While wildfires certainly get a lot more attention in California… Texas really has much larger and more frequent wildfires according to data compiled by their respective state agencies.
• According to data compiled by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, there were about 137 wildland fires so far this year, which have burned a total of 265 acres, and a total of 235 in last year which ignited 89 acres. This pales in comparison to the sheer volume of fires burning Texas plains in February alone
• As of Friday, March 1, the deadly and devastating Smokehouse Creek Fire has nearly ignited 1.1 million acres in the Texas Panhandle, breaking not only the record for the largest fire in Texas history but surpassing California’s largest fire on record — the August Complex Fire which burned 1,032,648 acres in 2020, according to data from Reuters.
• And that’s not the only notable fire that ignited in February.
  • In fact, data from the Texas A&M Forest Service shows there were a whopping 12,411 wildfires in Texas in 2022 that burned more than 650,000 acres. In 2023, there were 7,530 that charred over 205,000 acres.

Read the original article by clicking here.