2009 brought extreme weather to southeast Texas
We began the year 2009 with a drought which actually started to develop in the fall of 2008. Widespread, soaking showers didn't return until April, when two separate weather systems dumped heavy rain and caused flash flooding. The thirsty ground easily soaked up the water, bringing an end to the drought.
We turned up the heat during the summer. The high temperature was 100° or hotter seventeen times between June, July and August. We hit 104° on June 24 and 26, the hottest it has ever been in June and just five degrees shy of the all-time hottest temperature ever recorded in Houston. Overall, the summer of 2009 was the second hottest on record!
The heat wave finally broke in early September when the first of many cool fronts brought our temperatures down to more seasonable levels. A series of fronts in October brought more heavy rain, easing the drought conditions which started to re-develop during the summer.
No tropical weather systems tracked toward southeast Texas during the year 2009. But we did have a few severe weather events. Severe thunderstorms on March 27 produced a small tornado in Cleveland and pummeled the ground with baseball size hail. A waterspout moved ashore in Galveston on August 30 and produced minor damage along the Seawall. A few weeks before that, a tornado touched down in Beaumont.
The biggest weather event for many happened late in the year. A blast of cold air brought some snow to southeast Texas on December 4. It was the perfect ending to a weatherful year.
Hi Tim -
Great blog, many thanks. Thought you would appreciate the photo below. Fascinating.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100105.html
RESPONSE from TIM HELLER: Great website. Thanks for sharing it Matt.
Posted by: Matt from Spring | January 05, 2010 at 04:48 PM