Wx Infinity Forums

This maybe the summer where we may not see 100°F days. I looked at old data noticed summers without 100°F days had a major hurricane make landfall. This going from 1883 to 2010. Some years are not available at this time from 10/1909 to 12/1920. 12 August to October major hurricanes made landfall from 1883 to 2010. One major hurricane made landfall in July of 1909, the Velasco Hurricane.

Summers Did Not Reach 100°F and Major Hurricane Landfalls
1900*-Great Galveston Hurricane
1941*-Hurricane 2
1942*-Hurricane 2
1949-Hurricane 10 Latest Major Hurricane To Make Landfall In October
1961*-Carla
1983*-Alicia

6 out of 12 major hurricanes made landfall with no 100°F days in the summer. 5 of the 6 that had no 100°F had wet July's in the Upper Texas Coast and were in the top 20. As pointed out, a wet July is correlated with major hurricane landfalls for the Upper Texas Coast.


Summers Reached 100°F and Major Hurricane Landfalls
1886-Indianola Hurricane (First 100 on June 17, 1886)
1932-Freeport Hurricane (First 100 on July 16, 1932)
1945-Hurricane 5 (First 100 on August 17, 1945)
2005-Rita (First 100 on July 1, 2005)

4 out of 12 major hurricanes made landfall with 100°F. None of the July's were Top 20 wettest on record for Upper Texas Coast.


Not Known Due To Missing Data from 10/1909 to 12/1920
1915-Galveston Hurricane of 1915
1918-Hurricane 1


This is preliminary at this time. I will do a more thorough analysis to determine if there is a correlation. Looks like if summers do not see 100°F, there is a better chance for a major hurricane to make landfall, especially if they are wet July's.

A little interesting trivia about 1941 and 1942 major hurricanes. Both made landfalls on Tuesdays.


Source For Data
http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/coop/coop.html

Before 1969
Houston WB City

After 1969
Houston Intercontinental Airport

I believe that we're seeing more 100F days lately because the thermometer exposure is different from the "old day". With lots more concrete around the city, there's a heat island effect that wasn't in existence much of the last century (until the 1970s). There are just a lot more heat sources than there were in the first half of last century.

In addition, I've seen studies that suggest the change to a new material for instrument shelters may have contributed to most of the temperature rise last century attributed to global warming.

wxman57 wrote:I believe that we're seeing more 100F days lately because the thermometer exposure is different from the "old day". With lots more concrete around the city, there's a heat island effect that wasn't in existence much of the last century (until the 1970s). There are just a lot more heat sources than there were in the first half of last century.

In addition, I've seen studies that suggest the change to a new material for instrument shelters may have contributed to most of the temperature rise last century attributed to global warming.

You raise a very good point.