The brutal summer cost the Texas economy
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
This summer's extreme heat could have reduced the state's GDP growth by as much as $24 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimates.
State of play: Temperatures have been increasing every decade since the 1970s.
- Heat waves are hotter now than they were 50 years ago and are happening more frequently and for a longer duration, per the EPA.
The big picture: Texas tends to have hotter summers than most of the country, so the economic impact of heat waves is more significant in the state than nationwide, per the Fed report.
Details: Jobs in the mining, construction, manufacturing and leisure and hospitality industries are "notably affected" by heat waves.
- Employment growth in the mining industry, mainly oil and gas, drops by 1.4 percentage points for every degree increase in average summer temperature in Texas. The rest of the U.S. has a decline of 0.3 percentage points.
- Construction and manufacturing, which also rely on manual labor, have a decline in employment growth for each degree increase in average summer temperature.
Zoom in: Arlington-based Six Flags Entertainment estimates 400,000 fewer people visited its theme parks in the three months ending on July 2 because of heat waves across the South.
- Six Flags plans to add more air-conditioned areas and shaded structures because the weather "continues to be hotter every year," per CNN.
Flashback: About a quarter of Texas businesses surveyed by the Dallas Fed reported that the summer's heat negatively affected revenue and production.
- Shops and restaurants reported lower customer demand.
What's next: Texas temperatures may be nearly 2 degrees warmer by 2036 compared to the average temperature between 1991 and 2020, according to the report.
- And the number of 100-degree days may double.