Interesting you mention that. Following Hurricane Carla, 1962 to 1965 had below rainfall total in the Upper Texas Coast. Carla was a very large hurricane like Ike.PaulEInHouston wrote:Very interesting reading and learning about these anomalies and how they collaboratively affect the weather and patterns. I know it sounds "strange" maybe to some, but the real "continuing" drought for Texas it appears really began right after Ike's landfall in '08. Does anyone think that Ike, a storm of such abnormal size and magnitude, may have had anything to do with where we are today drought/pattern-wise? Might make an interesting study from a climatological standpoint to be honest!
Carla
1961 59.02
1962 34.69
1963 33.61
1964 40.45
1965 38.12
1966 50.87
Carla made landfall during Neutral El Nino region, cool Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and warm Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO). 1961-1962 and 1962-1963 winter were La Nina and back to back. They were weak La Nina. January 1962 and January 1963 had deep freeze.
Let's look at Alicia. Following Hurricane Alicia in 1983, it was wet.
Alicia
1983 59.87
1984 47.03
1985 49.39
1986 53.81
1987 48.39
1988 30.88
Alicia occurred following a strong El Nino winter, warm PDO, and cool AMO. Alicia was an average sized hurricane. There was a weak La Nina in 1984-1985. El Nino occurred in 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 winter. December 1983 and January and February 1985 had deep freezes.
Now, let's look at the 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane. 1900 was quite wet year.
1900 Great Galveston Hurricane
1900 67.02
1901 34.98
1902 50.54
1903 50.14
1904 41.45
1905 67.73
The 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane occurred following an El Nino winter, cool PDO, and cool AMO. The 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane was likely a large hurricane like Carla and Ike. El Nino occurred in 1902-1903 and 1904-1905. 1904 was one of the years that went La Nina to El Nino like 1911, 1976, 2006, and 2009. La Nina occurred in 1903-1904. Winter of 1904-1905 is one of the coldest winters besides 1894-1895, 1977-1978 and 2009-2010. The dry years were 1901 and 1904. Most of the years following the 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane were wet years.
Here is the 1915 Galveston Hurricane. Another large Cape Verde Hurricane like 1900 Great Galveston and Ike.
1915 Galveston Hurricane
1915 40.52
1916 36.87
1917 27.01
1918 43.91
1919 72.97
1920 52.40
It was dry from 1916 to 1918. The 1915 Galveston Hurricane occurred following a weak El Nino, cool PDO, and cool AMO. Interesting to note that the 1900 and 1915 Hurricanes occurred in cool AMO. It shows even during AMO you can have deadly and strong hurricanes. One of the worst droughts occurred from 1916 to 1918. Strangely, 1919 is the wettest year for Upper Texas Coast. During the droughts, it was La Nina in 1915-1916, 1916-1917, and 1917-1918. It flipped to El Nino in 1918-1919.
It is hard to say if a large hurricane has impact on rainfall the following years. It is probably coincidental.
Combination of AMO and PDO are a huge factor in rainfall for Upper Texas Coast. Warm AMO and Cool PDO means more chance for drought like 1950s or current one.
Cool PDO Annual Rainfall (1901-2012)
Mean
45.62
Standard Deviation
11.37
Driest
24.06 (2011)
Wettest
72.97 (1919)
Warm PDO Annual Rainfall (1901-2012)
Mean
50.13
Standard Deviation
9.33
Driest
30.88 (1988)
Wettest
70.47 (1979)
PDO does have an impact on rainfall for Upper Texas Coast. A warm PDO on average means wetter year compared to cool PDO. You can have wet years in cool PDO and dry years in warm PDO.
Cool AMO Annual Rainfall (1895-2012)
Mean
48.31
Standard Deviation
10.04
Driest
27.01 (1917)
Wettest
72.97 (1919)
Warm AMO Annual Rainfall (1895-2012)
Mean
46.98
Standard Deviation
10.91
Driest
24.06 (2011)
Wettest
70.70 (1946)
Like PDO, AMO does have an impact on rainfall for Upper Texas Coast. A warm AMO on average means drier year compared to cool AMO. You can have wet years in warm AMO and dry years in cool AMO.
Now, let's look ath PDO and AMO together.
PDO AMO Mean Std. Deviation
Cool Cool 46.11 11.25
Cool Warm 45.17 11.67
Warm Cool 50.3 8.76
Warm Warm 49.92 10.14
The driest combination of PDO and AMO for Upper Texas Coast is Cool PDO and Warm AMO. The wettest combination for Upper Texas Coast is Warm PDO and Cool AMO.
Divisional Data
http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/CDO/CDODivisionalSelect.jsp
PDO
http://jisao.washington.edu/pdo/PDO.latest
AMO
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/corre ... .long.data
