2011 Weather Rewind

[srainhoutx]

What was your most unforgettable memory?

[TexasBreeze]

Labor Day fires/ summer drought and heat.

[MontgomeryCoWx]

Worst Spring and Summer ever... too much heat and no rain.

[srainhoutx]

2011 Extreme Weather Events from NOAA...
http://www.noaa.gov/extreme2011/

[ticka1]

Horrible Heat Ridge that didn't budge that gave us our drought and no rain for months on end. The welcome change to the weather pattern this Fall that gave us some much needed rain and relief from the horrible heatwave.

[wxman57]

The last bike ride when the temperature topped 85 degrees. That was a great day! I biked for over 5 hours around the city.

[Ptarmigan]

The oppressive drought and heat.

[srainhoutx]

My thought would be 'The Perfect Storm' of Labor Day Weekend with TS Lee just to our E in Louisiana and the dry Northlery Winds that it brought which led to the Texas Wildfire Outbreak. Seeing our neighbors in Bastrop and the Montgomery/Grimes/Walker counties literally running for their lives as the flames spread from tree top to tree top are my most unforgetable extreme experience for 2011.

[JackCruz]

The February Arctic blast.....or was it the January one? I don't remember but temps dropped to around 17 degrees in my area. I LOVED IT.

[Ptarmigan]

The February Arctic blast.....or was it the January one? I don't remember but temps dropped to around 17 degrees in my area. I LOVED IT.

February.

[ticka1]

The February Arctic blast.....or was it the January one? I don't remember but temps dropped to around 17 degrees in my area. I LOVED IT.

February.

I hope THIS repeats in 2012

[TexasBreeze]

It's hard to forget about the busted snowstorm forecast. It freezing drizzled all night!

[srainhoutx]

Jeff offers a great 2011 Weather Review in his morning e-mail:

2011 will long be remember as the year of historic drought and heat in the state of Texas. Hundreds of rainfall and temperatures records were set of which many will stand for years and decades to come. Below is a list of some of the more memorable weather events of 2011.

Jan 9, 2011:
A strong storm system resulted in damaging winds over S TX (bow echo), coastal flooding on the upper TX coast and snow over N TX.
Alice TX: 67mph wind gust
Seadrift, TX: 70mph wind gust.
Placedo, TX: 70mph wind gust
A rare January tornado struck Robstown, TX with EF 2 damage. This was the first time a tornado had been recorded in S TX dating back to 1950.

Jan 12, 2011:
Major arctic cold front brought hard freezes to the region.
IAH: 26
Sugar Land: 25
Tomball: 25
Conroe: 22
Madisonville: 18

Feb 1, 2011:
Coldest arctic intrusion in nearly 20 years brought temperatures in the 20’s and teens for lows and highs near freezing for 3-4 days in early February. Extended period of sub-freezing temperatures resulted in frozen pipes and power outages across the state. At Austin temperatures were below freezing for 69.5 hours. Even at Brownsville the temperature was below freezing for 31 hours. This was one of the most significant arctic outbreaks since the outbreak of December 1989. Lows on the 2nd fell to :
IAH: 21
Sugar Land: 20
Conroe: 19
Brenham: 18
Tomball: 19
Palacios: 23
Wharton: 24
Lubbock: 2
Fort Worth: 12
Waco: 16
Amarillo: -2

Feb 3-4, 2011:
With a very cold arctic air mass in place a southern stream storm system moved across the state. The result was snow over N TX and freezing rain over SE TX, the coastal bend, and S TX. Ice accumulations of .10 to .25 of an inch resulted from the period of freezing rain from late on the 3rd into the early morning of the 4th. Nearly every major freeway in SE TX reported ice and many were closed including all of the Toll Road system. In the 24 hour period from late on the 3rd to late on the 4th over 900 accidents were recorded across Harris County with 4 fatalities due to ice related accidents across the state.

Feb 9, 2011:
Secondary arctic front brought a brief period of freezing rain to the area on the afternoon of the 9th. Minor icing occurred on some bridges north and west of Harris County. Lows on the 10th:
Austin: 19
College Station: 22
Conroe: 22
BUSH IAH: 25
Tomball: 22
Port Lavaca: 26
Amarillo: -6

Feb 10, 2011:
Bartlesville, OK falls to -28 for the overnight low setting a new all –time record low for the entire state. The old record was -27 in Vinita in 1905.

April 10, 2011:
One of many devastating wild fire event days across Texas in 2011. Several large wildfires developed over portions of NC and W TX with over 204 fires in the first 7 days of April. 620 structures had been lost in the first 4 months on the year in a year that would see horrible losses due to wildfires across the state. One of the most destructive fires was the Possum Kingdom fire which burned over 30 homes and 45,000 acres. The Marfa Fire in West TX burned over 182,000 acres and 23 homes.

April 27, 2011:
100+ acre wildfire developed just NW of Huntsville west of I-45

April 27-28, 2011:
Historic tornado outbreak produces incredible damage of death over MS, AL, GA, and TN. 316 persons were killed with 234 in Alabama alone making this outbreak the third deadliest behind the Super Outbreak of 1974 (368 deaths) and the Palm Sunday Outbreak of 1965 (337 deaths) along with over 2,400 injuries. Complete damage figures from the outbreak totaled 4.2 billion dollars. Several long tracked EF 4 and EF 5 tornadoes moved across Alabama including the extremely large and destructive Tuscaloosa Tornado. All totaled the combined track lengths of all the tornadoes was just over 1000 miles. There were five EF 4 and EF 5 tornadoes during this outbreak and they were responsible for the majority of the fatalities (208). The long tracks of the tornadoes, their extreme intensity, and impact on densely populated areas resulted on the extreme damage and high death rate, even with fairly long average lead warning times and extensive local media coverage. A NWS assessment was conducted on this event and can be found here: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/ ... nadoes.pdf

Feb, Mar, Apr:
Houston records less than 1 inch of rainfall for the 3 month period making it the driest ever spring ever.

May 10, 2011:
47% of the state of Texas falls into D4 exceptional drought on the US Drought Monitor, with 82% of the state in extreme or exceptional drought.

May 22, 2011:
Another tornado disaster this time in Joplin, MO. An EF 5 tornado struck the city late on the afternoon of the 22nd killing 160 residents and injuring over 990. This was the first tornado to result in over 100 fatalities from a single tornado since the Flint, MI tornado of June 1953. The damage path was 22 miles long and at times 1 mile wide with wind speeds greater than 200mph across the city of Joplin. The extremely destructive EF4/5 damage path was 6 miles long and roughly ½ to ¾ of a mile wide. Roughly 16,650 homes were damaged with insured losses at 2.2 billion dollars. 54% of the fatalities were persons in their homes.
A NWS assessment was conducted on this event and can be found here: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/ ... ornado.pdf

May 23, 2011:
Hobby Airport had only recorded .19 of an inch of rainfall in the last 69 days.

May 23, 2011:
70mph wind gust recorded in Edna, TX from thunderstorms along with 1.75 inch diameter hail in Columbus, TX

June 5-6, 2011:
BUSH IAH records 105 degrees both days, the hottest for so early in the year. Establishes a new all-time June record high for the City.

June 13, 2011:
140 acre wildfire developed near the Montgomery/Harris County line threatening 6 homes. 1400 acre wildfire was burning out of control in heavy pine forest in Hardin County.

Hobby Airport had only recorded rainfall on 1 day out of the last 86 days and only 1.41 inches since Jan 26.

June 19, 2011:
Extreme drought conditions combined with gusty winds and low humidity resulted in the formation of several wildfires over the Father’s Day weekend.

The Bearing Fire in (Polk and Trinity counties) consumed over 21,000 acres and burned 6 structures.
The Dyer Mill Fire in (Grimes County) burned over 6,000 acres and 35 homes. 1800 homes were evacuated.
The Midway Fire (Walker and Madison counties) burned over 2,500 acres and threatened 20 homes.
The Powerline Fire (Jasper County) burned over 4,000 acres and threatened 1500 homes.

June 23, 2011:
First widespread rainfall since January produced 1-2 inches of rainfall across the region
College Station: 2.45
Huntsville: 1.43
Conroe: 1.40
Brenham: 1.98
Sugar Land: 1.72
BUSH IAH: .80
Hobby: 1.08
League City: 2.32
Pearland: .49
Wharton: 2.19
Palacios: 1.08
Angleton: 1.48
Galveston: .73
Baytown: 1.32
Cleveland: 1.12
10 SE Victoria: 2.01
This rainfall ended the streak of back to back days with less than .25 of an inch of rainfall at BUSH IAH at 99 (the old record was 71). It also ended the back to back days with less than .50 of an inch of rainfall at 148 (the old record was 93)

June 24, 2011:
Lake Travis fall to 34 feet below its conservation pool.

June 26, 2011
Amarillo, TX reaches 111 degrees establishing a new all-time record high

June 30, 2011:
Statewide PDSI values falls to -6.37 for the month of June making the drought the 3rd worst on record by PDSI values.

July 15, 2011
72% of the state fell into exceptional drought and 91% was either in exceptional or extreme drought. For the period from Feb-June 2011, IAH had recorded 4.34 inches of rainfall (previous record was 8.39 inches). 244 out of 254 TX counties had burn bans in place. Tomball reaches a rainfall deficit of -28.25 inches since October 2010.

July 29, 2011:
Tropical Storm Don crosses the lower TX coast across Kennedy County, TX with nearly no rainfall and 40-50mph winds.

August 4, 2011:
Lake Somerville falls to 57% of its storage capacity. Lake Travis falls to -41.34 feet below its conservation pool. Lake Conroe fall to -3.70 feet below its conservation pool.

August 9, 2011:
Huntsville establishes a new record of consecutive days at or above 100 degrees of 44.

August 16, 2011:
The City of Houston enacts stage 2 water conservation and orders water to be released from Lake Conroe to stabilize Lake Houston’s rapid decline (50 million gallons per day).

August 22, 2011:
Driest Feb-August 22 period at both IAH and Hobby Airport. At IAH, 5.10 inches of rainfall would be required to move to second driest and 6.25 inches at Hobby Airport.

August 23, 2011:
BUSH IAH records its 33 100 degree day in 2011 breaking the old record of 32 in 1980.

August 24, 2011:
Severe weather with damaging winds move into the region from the NE.
69mph wind reported at Snook, TX and 70mph winds at Lake Conroe.

August 25, 2011:
Clouds and spotty rainfall prevent BUSH IAH from reaching 100 degrees ending the 100 degree day streak at 24 days (previous record was 14 days set in 1980)

August 27-28, 2011:
Incredible Heat

27th
BUSH IAH: 109 (tied all-time record of 109 on 9-4-2000, record of 104 in 1990 shattered, hottest Aug day ever old record 108 in 1909)
Hobby Airport: 106 (broke record of 103 in 1990, tied hottest Aug day ever old record was 106 in 1962)
Galveston: 100 (broke record of 99 in 1990, only the 7th time Galveston has hit 100 degrees ever)
College Station: 109 (broke record high of 104 in 1990, tied hottest Aug day ever)
Austin Bergstrom: 108 (broke record of 105 in 1990)
Austin Mabry: 110 ( broke record of 106 in 1990)
San Antonio: 106 (broke record of 102 in 1990)
Waco: 110 (broke record of 106 in 1990, 2 degrees shy of all-time record high of 112 in 1969)
Victoria: 106 (broke record of 104 in 1912)
Corpus Christi: 102 (tied record of 102 in 1990)

28th
BUSH IAH: 107 (broke record of 101 in 1902)
Hobby: 103 (broke record of 98 in 1999)
College Station: 109 (broke record of 103 in 1928, tied previous day for hottest Aug day ever)
Waco: 109 (broke record of 104 in 1998)
San Antonio: 110 (shattered record of 101 in 1940, hottest Aug day ever old record was 108 in 1986)
Austin Bergstrom: 110 (shattered record of 102 in 1990)
Austin Mabry: 112 (shattered record of 104 in 1990, tied all-time record high of 112 on 9-4-2000)
Victoria: 109 (broke record of 103 in 1912, hottest Aug day ever)
Corpus Christi: 107 (broke record of 102 in 2005, hottest Aug day ever)
Cotulla: 111

2011 Days at or above 100 Degrees:
BUSH IAH: 38 (old record was 32 in 1980)
Hobby: 16 (old record was 13 in 1998/2000)
Conroe: 43 (old record was 42 in 1998)
Huntsville: 62 (old record was 43 in 1980)
College Station: 55 (record is 58 in 1917)
Austin Mabry: 73 (old record was 69 in 1925)
Austin Bergstrom: 60 (old record was 55 in 2009)
Del Rio: 77 (record is 78 in 1953)
San Antonio: 47 (record is 59 in 2009)
Waco: 76 (old record was 63 in 1980)
DFW: 62 (record is 69 in 1980)


Hurricane Irene makes landfall near New York City as a strong tropical storm after battering much of the US east coast.


August 30, 2011
Another massive wildfire developed near Possum Kingdom Lake in N TX burning over 7500 acres and 25-35 homes.

August 2011:
Hottest August ever recorded for the City of Houston with an average temperature for the month of 90.4 degrees (old record was 87.9 degrees). PDSI value falls to -7.75 the second lowest in state history behind the 1950’s drought.

September 3, 2011:
Tropical Storm Lee moves into Louisiana with dry gusty winds and low RH developing over TX.

September 4, 2011:
Strong winds of 30-40mph and RH values of less than 30% combined with extremely dry fuels from the ongoing drought produce a period of incredible fire weather across the state. In the early afternoon of the 4th arcing power lines in the strong winds spark the start or what would become one of the most destructive wildfires in TX history the Bastrop Lost Pines Fire. Other fires erupt across central TX around Austin and in Colorado County burning hundreds of homes on the 4-5. The Bastrop Fire burned over 14,000 acres in just a few hours on the 4th. The fire was declared 100% contained on October 10, 2011 burning 1645 homes and over 34,000 acres. Insured losses for the Bastrop County fire is estimated at 150 million dollars

September 5, 2011
Additional wildfires develop over SE TX including the start of the Grimes/Montgomery counties fire (Riley Rd Fire) late in the afternoon. This fire would burn over 18,000 acres and some 86 homes while forcing the evacuation of over 5000 residents. By the end of the day on the 5th, 20 major fires were burning across the state. Over 2000 homes were lost. Insured losses for the Labor Day weekend wildfires is estimated at 250 million dollars.

September 13, 2011
Grass fire in George Bush Park burns 1500 acres. The high temperature of 102 is the highest temperature ever recorded so late in the summer season.

September 27, 2011
Rare dry lightening across central and SE TX spark additional wildfires during the afternoon and evening.

September 2011
PDSI falls to its lowest value ever for the state of Texas at the end of September. The value of -7.97 exceeded the 1956 value of -7.80 indicating the incredible severity of the drought.

October 9, 2011
Widespread excessive rainfall of 2-6 inches falls over Harris County during the afternoon as a result of a slow moving line of thunderstorms. A combination of high moisture levels and cell training over SE Harris County led to afternoon totals of 4-6 inches over Pasadena and South Houston. Locations in Pasadena received 40% of their 2011 year to date rainfall on the 9th.
Location
Rainfall: 1-1-11 to 10-8-11
Rainfall 10-9-11
New Yearly Total
% 2011 Yearly Total on 10-9

940: Lt Vince Bayou at Jackson
9.24
6.92
16.16
43%

920: Vince Bayou at W Ellaine
10.52
6.88
17.40
40%

320: Berry Bayou at Forest Oaks
11.44
6.36
17.80
36%

310: Berry Bayou at Nevada
11.56
5.84
17.40
34%

240: Armand Bayou at Beltway 8
9.52
5.00
14.52
34%

610: Taylor Bayou at Shoreacres
12.16
5.80
17.96
32%

620: Lt Cedar Bayou at 8th St
12.0
5.64
17.64
32%

640: HCFCD F101 at Sens Rd
10.8
4.52
15.32
30%

230: Big Island at Fairmont
13.0
4.28
17.28
25%

270: Willow/Springs at Fairmont
11.72
4.64
16.36
28%

125: Chigger Creek at Windsong
11.32
4.88
16.20
30%

1070: Spring Creek at SH 249
10.84
3.20
14.04
23%

550: White Oak at Lakeview
11.32
4.44
15.76
28%

2210: Buffalo at Turning Basin
13.0
5.68
18.68
30%




October 9, 2011
EF1 tornado strikes San Antonio, TX with winds of 90-100mph. The damage path was 2 miles long and 50 yards wide and resulted in damage to trees, vehicles, and roofs.

November 8, 2011:
EF0 tornado impacts the Kingwood area with downed trees and power lines, blown over fences, and roof damage.

December 23-26, 2011
A rare treat for portions of western TX….a white Christmas! A slow moving upper level low produced period of slow from the 23rd to the 26th in area around Lubbock. Accumulations ranged from a dusting to nearly a foot just northwest of Lubbock.

[MontgomeryCoWx]

very nice write up