Volume 22 Number 10 OCTOBER 2009

The month of October was a fairly wet month for the eastern part of the state while the western and south parts of the state were drier than normal. October began with a bang in Johnson County, where a severe thunderstorm brought winds in excess of 80mph. All of Texas was affected by several cold fronts, with a progressive weather pattern that was seemingly different every day. For the month, a combination of these fronts and rainy days kept temperatures below normal in North and Central Texas. Several cities in the Panhandle of Texas saw temperatures dip to record lows the morning of the 2nd. The cold spot was Dimmit, where the mercury dipped to 28 degrees, which was in stark contrast to the high temperature of 95 degrees recorded two days earlier in nearby Plainview. The rest of the state saw temperatures near normal for the month. Unsettled weather in the final third of the month was brought by remnants of Hurricane Rick. Much of the eastern half of the state saw heavy rainfall, and several tornadoes were reported on the 29th near the Texas-Louisiana border in Northeast Texas. The final few days of October saw a high pressure system that brought clear skies around much of the state, which was an October rarity in some areas but made for good Halloween weather.

The rains in South Central Texas were extremely beneficial, greatly improving the drought conditions that were present going into the month. Flash flooding plagued much of the northeastern quarter of the state during October, causing numerous traffic accidents, road closures, and unfortunately, a few fatalities. San Antonio received nearly 12” of precipitation for the month, with 5.42” falling on the 4th alone, helping improve a water supply that had been very low for some time in the area. Although portions of South Texas have seen improvement in drought conditions, Corpus Christi and much of the Coastal Bend has not received enough rainfall to break an exceptional drought that has been present for some time. By the end of October, Corpus Christi was 15.88” below normal for the year, less than half of the precipitation the city normally receives. For the month, Port Arthur received the most rain out of the first-order stations receiving nearly 15” of rain, though radar estimates in far Northeast Texas indicate some areas may have received over 20” of precipitation during the month.

OCTOBER 2009

	TMAX			TMIN			Mean Temp		Precipitation
Station	Avg.	Dep.	Abs. Max	Avg.	Dep.	Abs. Min	Avg.	Dep.	No. Days	Total (In.)	Percent Avg.	Gr'st 24 hr. (In.)	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene	72.0	-5.6	93	50.2	-4.2	34	61.1	-4.9	11	3.40	117%	0.76	164	48
Amarillo	66.6	-5.2	90	40.1	-4.5	23	53.4	-4.8	11	1.42	95%	0.34	370	20
Austin	78.1	-3.3	92	59.4	-0.4	46	68.8	-1.8	11	6.88	173%	2.08	43	168
Brownsville	86.5	2.5	93	69.0	3.1	51	77.7	2.7	9	3.12	83%	1.31	0	400
College Station	78.3	-3.7	93	60.5	1.5	45	69.4	-1.1	15	8.25	195%	2.53	51	195
Corpus Christi	84.8	1.2	96	66.3	2.3	45	75.5	1.7	10	2.43	62%	0.94	8	344
Dallas-Fort Worth	71.8	-6.1	89	53.5	-2.9	41	62.7	-4.5	18	8.05	196%	2.42	115	52
Del Rio	81.2	-0.5	99	60.4	-0.1	38	70.8	-0.3	7	0.65	33%	0.48	37	224
El Paso	77.5	-0.4	87	53.2	1.4	33	65.4	0.5	6	0.25	31%	0.07	98	117
Galveston	77.8	-1.9	87	66.0	-2.4	55	71.9	-2.2	9	6.76	194%	1.35	20	190
Houston	80.3	-1.7	93	61.7	2.9	47	71.0	0.6	16	13.16	292%	3.05	32	227
Lubbock	72.0	-2.4	93	44.3	-2.7	29	58.1	-2.6	10	0.78	46%	0.23	251	47
Midland	75.6	-1.8	94	49.4	-1.9	31	62.5	-1.9	8	0.96	54%	0.53	162	89
Port Arthur	78.5	-2.0	90	61.9	2.3	45	70.2	0.1	16	14.90	319%	2.64	47	213
San Angelo	77.5	-0.3	96	52.6	-0.4	32	65.0	-0.4	7	2.92	114%	0.92	110	120
San Antonio	79.5	-2.5	93	60.3	0.9	41	69.9	-0.8	9	11.90	308%	5.42	44	202
Victoria	82.4	-0.6	93	62.9	1.3	45	72.6	0.3	12	6.37	150%	1.84	19	264
Waco	75.2	-5.2	90	55.5	-1.2	40	65.4	-3.2	13	9.71	265%	2.42	81	98
Wichita Falls	68.8	-8.3	90	48.9	-3.5	35	58.8	-5.9	12	4.32	139%	1.30	197	17
Shreveport, LA	72.5	-5.8	92	53.7	-1.3	39	63.1	-3.6	16	20.35	457%	5.88	128	76

* Complete temperature data were unavailable. Temperatures are rounded to the nearest whole degree.

*HDD - Heating degree-day: Refer to the Monthly Average chart for a definition T = Trace (<0.005")

*CDD - Cooling degree-day: Refer to the Monthly Average chart for a definition M: Information not available.

CLIMATIC AVERAGES FOR NOVEMBER

	TMAX		TMIN		Precipitation (In.)			Mean Number of Days in Month
Station	Avg.	Record	Avg.	Record	Avg.	Gr'st Mon. Total	Gr'st 24 hr. Total	TMAX > 90°F	TMIN < 32°F	Days PRCP ≥ 0.01"	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene	65.1	92	42.3	14	1.30	5.12	2.43	0.0	5.3	4.7	353	15
Amarillo	58.4	87	31.8	0	0.68	4.06	1.11	0.0	15.9	4.1	594	0
Austin	70.1	91	49.3	20	2.68	14.10	7.55	0.0	0.8	8.2	205	51
Brownsville	76.8	97	58.6	31	1.75	7.69	4.08	0.5	0.0	5.9	69	166
College Station	70.9	89	49.1	19	3.18	9.29	4.56	0.0	1.5	8.1	203	53
Corpus Christi	74.9	98	55.4	13	1.74	8.53	4.55	0.4	0.2	6.3	103	122
Dallas-Fort Worth	65.1	89	45.1	22	2.57	6.95	2.23	0.0	2.2	6.6	312	15
Del Rio	70.9	96	49.2	22	0.96	4.71	2.07	0.2	1.1	5.0	183	41
El Paso	65.5	87	39.8	1	0.42	2.50	0.95	0.0	8.1	3.1	386	2
Galveston	71.3	85	59.4	30	3.64	10.80	7.58	0.0	0.6	8.7	112	122
Houston	72.0	89	49.8	19	4.19	11.73	5.19	0.0	1.3	8.6	189	65
Lubbock	61.6	90	34.5	-1	0.71	6.65	1.59	0.0	10.3	3.7	491	0
Midland	65.8	90	38.8	11	0.65	5.42	1.77	0.0	6.9	3.1	380	4
Port Arthur	70.9	88	50.8	22	4.75	10.84	6.32	0.0	0.8	8.4	181	63
San Angelo	66.5	93	41.4	13	1.10	5.18	2.19	0.1	5.8	4.2	330	16
San Antonio	71.4	94	48.6	21	2.58	9.46	4.87	0.1	1.9	7.3	197	57
Victoria	73.0	93	52.3	18	2.64	16.14	6.94	0.1	0.6	7.5	145	83
Waco	67.8	92	45.8	17	2.61	9.72	3.77	0.1	2.9	7.5	271	34
Wichita Falls	63.7	89	40.1	14	1.68	6.85	2.58	0.0	6.6	5.5	395	10
Shreveport, LA	66.8	88	45.3	16	4.68	10.81	4.64	0.0	3.0	8.9	296	24

Records are at the current site, other records may have occurred at previous sites.

*CDD - Cooling degree-day: The difference between the mean individual daily temperature and 65°F, with one CDD resulting for each degree above the standard 65°F during one day.

*HDD - Heating degree-day: The difference between the mean individual daily temperature and 65°F, with one HDD resulting for each degree below the standard 65°F during one day.

All times given for sunrise, sunset, and moon phase times are calculated for the intersection of Meridian 99°10' W and parallel 31°23' N, which is the approximate geographic center of the state.

Climate-related Agricultural Information

http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/CROP/

Past Weather Events in October

October 8^th 1970: A record early, heavy snow whitened much of Eastern Nebraska with totals of 3-6 inches. Many trees still in full leaf collapsed due to the weight of the heavy wet snow and high winds. In Lincoln alone about 4000 power lines broke.

October 16^th 1984: A major early season snowstorm hit Eastern Colorado, Foothill locations received 2-3 feet. At Woodland Hills 40 inches fell. The Air Force Academy closed for the first time in 17 years. Interstates east, west, north and south of Denver were closed.

October 22^nd 1988: Hurricane Joan made landfall at Bluefields, Nicaragua, with sustained winds of 145 mph. 216 people died and there was 2-billion-dollars in damage.

October 25^th 1997: Easterly winds to 120 mph roared down the west side of the Continental divide and blew down more than 20,000 acres of old-growth forest from about 5 miles north to 26 miles north of Steamboat, Colorado. Downed trees blocked roads, trapping hunters for up to 2 days.

Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon (State Climatologist)

BRENT McRobertS (Assistant STATE CLIMATOLOGIST)

Marissa PAzos (Undergraduate Assistant)