2007 Weather Year in Review

The year 2007 started off wet, with at least a trace of rain on 20 out of 31 days in January. On the 15th of the month cold air combined with the moisture to produce some freezing rain, sleet and snow over the northwest part of the area.

And then it stopped raining. February was the driest on record in Galveston where only .03" of rain fell during the whole month. An increase in the warm air brought several rounds of severe weather in March. Damage was reported in Colorado, Austin and Wharton counties.

Winter came back in April with snow and sleet falling north of Houston, around Brenham, Conroe and Livingston. Severe thunderstorms throughout the month of May caused damage in several parts of the area. A small tornado touched down in New Caney early in the month.  Tennis ball sized hail fell in western Harris county on the 30th, and over five inches of rain fell in less than two hours.

Summer started off dry. Almost no rain fell in Houston during the early part of June, while it rained only eight days in Galveston. A change in the weather pattern brought much need rain during the last half of June and into July. The month ended up being one of the top ten wettest in Houston. 26.42" of rain fell in Matagorda.

Tropical Storm Erin brought more rain on August 16. Up to 10 inches of rain fell in eastern Harris county. Even with all the rain, it was warm, the fourth warmest August in record in Galveston. The temperature topped 102 degrees in Houston on August 12 and 14. September was the eighth warmest on record in Houston. On September 13, Hurricane Humberto made landfall just east of High Island causing over $1 million in damage.

Both October and November were warm the first couple of weeks and colder the last half of each month. Torrential rain fell on the 15th of October, causing flooding in several counties.

The first freeze of the season didn't occur until December 17, about three weeks later than normal. Several record high temperatures were set in both Houston and Galveston.

Many thanks to the staff at the Houston-Galveston National Weather Service office for their help tracking the weather in 2007 and maintaining the weather records for southeast Texas.

Setting up your home weather station

So you got a new weather station for Christmas?!

Welcome to the world of weather watching! Soon, you'll be making your own forecasts. (And you'll discover it's not as easy as you thought!) My grandfather was a farmer and tracked storms using an old aneroid barometer. Things have changed a lot over the years. Now, electronic sensors allow you to precisely monitor what's happening in your neighborhood.

Here's some things to keep in mind as you set up your home weather station:

• You are trying to measure the weather, not the effects of the weather.
• The thermometer/hygrometer probe must be in a shady location where the air flows freely.
• The anemometer should also be placed in a location where the wind flows without obstruction in all directions.
• The rain gauge should be out in the open, away from trees or buildings.
• The barometer is usually built into the display panel since air pressure varies little inside and outside.

To make sure your weather station is reading correctly, you might want to compare it with the "official" data recorded at National Weather Service observation sites around the area.

Photo courtesy of Davis Instruments.

Tracking Santa Claus!

For more than 50 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has been tracking Santa Claus as he travels the world on Christmas Eve. The federal agency monitors the sky for natural and man-made threats, such as missiles, jets, spacecraft, comets and meteorites. But one night a year, NORAD uses their advanced technology to track Santa.

The tradition started in 1955 when a Denver area Sears store published an ad with a special Santa hot-line. But the phone number printed in the ad was wrong and rang the NORAD Commander-in-Chief's office. Colonel Harry Shoup told his staff to check the radar and sure enough, there was a blip showing Santa's location!

Over the years the Santa telephone hot-line was replaced by the Internet which now allows for real-time tracking of Santa's sleigh, no matter where he is.

In case you missed the link above, click here to track Santa.

Merry Christmas from ABC13 Eyewitness Weather!

2007: One of the Warmest!

The average temperature for the whole United States was about 1.5 degrees above normal in 2007. That makes last year one of the ten warmest years on record. Globally, it was the fifth warmest year since 1880, when records began.

Drought conditions in the southeast made news late in the year, but it was also dry at times in the northeast and parts of the west. The dry weather in California produced an active wildfire season. A series of storms midsummer produce flooding from Texas to Missouri. Four tropical cyclones made landfall during hurricane season.

I'll be posting an annual review of southeast Texas weather in a few days.

Travel problems this weekend

A strong storm will be moving across the county this weekend and that could create some problems for folks traveling outside of the Houston area.

Heavy snow will fall north of the storm track from Colorado, Kansas, Iowa and into the Great Lakes. Strong thunderstorms are possible in Arkansas, Louisiana and into the Tennessee Valley. We might have a few showers around here early Saturday, but most of the action will be well north and east of Houston.

Flying out of town? You can check airport delays on the FAA website.

To get a detailed forecast for any place in the country, go the weather section of our web page. Under the video window, you'll see a place to enter the city name or zip code of your travel destination.

Star of Wonder!

A man living in College Station has made it his life’s passion to solve the mystery behind the Star of Bethlehem. 

Rick Larson travels the country making presentations about "The Star," and has produced a DVD movie with the help of Hollywood producer, Steven McEveety, who also produced “The Passion of the Christ.”

On his website, Larson describes how he first calculated the time of Christ’s birth and then how he reconstructed the star charts to map the position of the planets during that time. Larson believes the Three Kings saw a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Venus. The two bright planets appearing next to each other would have been brighter than anything else in the night sky. The planets are "wandering stars" and move across a field of fixed stars. Prior to the conjunction Jupiter appeared next to a star the Romans called Regulus Rex, which means "King." At the same time, the constellation Virgo, the Virgin, was rising in the east.

Larson says the Magi, who have studied astronomy, would have recognized the remarkable alignment of the stars.

You can learn more about Larson's quest today on Live at 5.

Severe storms possible

The weather pattern is very active right now. We have a chance of thundershowers in the forecast tonight and early Thursday. There's a possibility some of the stronger storms could produce some large hail and damaging winds. Isolated tornadoes are also possible but are more of a threat for areas east of Houston.

I expect another round of storms on Saturday. That  system is tracking a littler farther south and has some colder air behind it.

Then another smaller storm moves across Texas on Monday, Christmas Eve. Expect a chance of rain about every 2-3 days for the next week or so.

Mars shines brightly in the Texas sky

The planet Mars is only about 55 million miles away from Earth right now. This close encounter means the red planet is brighter than any other star in the night sky. It looks great through a backyard telescope. Look east just after sunset.

Mars won't be this close again until the year 2016.

Houston A.M.S. Chapter visits ABC13

The Houston Chapter of the American Meteorological Society stopped by ABC13 for a visit. Members toured the newsroom, control room, studio and the weather center, of course.  I explained how we use a network of 15 computers to help manage data, create weather graphics and produce a live weathercast. I also talked about the science behind our MegaDoppler13 radar and our exclusive FutureTrack computer model.

There was a lot of discussion about how the job of broadcast meteorologists has changed over the years. In addition to our on-air responsibilities, our forecasts are now available on several other platforms, including the Internet and GSTV.

According to the Chapter website, members are "meteorologists and scientists working for many different types of industry, government, private and media."  However membership is open to "everyone and anyone who is interested in weather and weather-related topics." Dues are only $10 per year.

Front Coming, Freeze to Follow!

While winter weather has been raging in December from the plains to the northeast, it seems that record highs in Houston have been falling faster than the leaves!  In fact, if the month ended today, it would be the 3rd warmest December on record.

But the weather here is about to turn on a dime, and by Sunday morning we expect fall's first official freeze in Houston!  Since Tuesday we have been forecasting a light freeze behind the front, and right or wrong, we see no reason to change that forecast.  In fact, now we're confident that Monday morning will be even colder, with a hard freeze likely for communities north of Houston.  So throw some logs on the fire this weekend, and stay warm!