2004 Gulf Coast Snowstorm/1900 Galveston Hurricane

[vbhoutex]

Ouch!!!Thawing pipes on Christmas...

I would not argue that 89 was brutally cold.

Even down here in Miami for the 1st & only time in my lifetime there was a chance of flurries in the forecast for Christmas Eve.On Christmas Day the high temperature was 44 here in bright sunshine..

If I am not mistaken, our high that day was 27º with bright sunshine. If I remember correctly we had a 60 hour+ run of below freezing temps then, which to say the least was almost unprecedented. It might have been colder longer when Houston had its' 20" blizzard in 1898 or whenever that was-I don't have time to research it right now.

[southerngale]

Actually, I think December 1989 was colder than 1983 anyway.

I got my info from the link above from NWS-Houston.One sentence says...

"The coldest Christmas in city history occurred in 1983 when the low temperature plummeted to 11 degrees".

Ok, maybe that was for Houston? Here it says it was colder in 1989 than 1983 in Galveston.

# DECEMBER OF 1989 WAS THE COLDEST MONTH IN HISTORY FOR GALVESTON... HOUSTON AND COLLEGE STATION. DECEMBER OF 1983 WAS THE SECOND COLDEST MONTH FOR THE SAME LOCATIONS
# ON DECEMBER 22 1989...HOUSTON RECEIVED 1.7 INCHES OF SNOW WHILE GALVESTON RECEIVED AN INCH; IT WAS THE LAST MEASURABLE SNOW FOR EACH LOCATION
# COLDEST DECEMBER TEMPERATURES EVER RECORDED ACROSS THE AREA. ON DECEMBER 23 1989...COLLEGE STATION HAD A LOW OF 2 DEGREES...HOUSTON HAD A LOW OF 7 DEGREES AND GALVESTON HAD A LOW TEMPERATURE OF 14 DEGREES

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/climate/hol ... undred.htm

[cajungal]

Yeah, winter was very cold in 1989. We got an inch of snow on the ground a couple of days before Christmas. We went out of town, to Central Louisiana (a 3 and half hour drive) to my grandparents that year. We had to rush home because my neighbor called us and said water was coming out of our house. Our pipes had busted from the attic and we had to rush home. We had a lot of damage. Temps were only between 9-13 degrees that year.

Anyway, I am not saying this year will be the "Big One" for Texas or Louisiana. But, I still found it very interesting that the Galveston 1900 hurricane occured with almost the similar pattern we are having now. I got a nervous feeling about TX/LA this year. It is just a gut feeling, nothing scientific or anything. But, lots of times my gut feelings turn out right. Just prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Can't do nothing about mother nature. Any more comments about this topic? Come on, I want to make this a popular post!

[Javlin]

I brought up the same info here awhile back about snowfall along the MGC.In 1985 snow Elena showed up in 1995 snow in the afternoon busy GOM season(Opal).Then it snowed 73 or 74 nothing much in GOM those years.The problem I had was finding accurate snowfall data.I even talked to our local Met one day and he said there no good records floating around.I think if anything it's just maybe a cue that you need to pay attention.The rainfall data seems to hold more weight if you can say that because there are better records kept on it.Maybe one should look at the two factors together instead of seperate.Yes it snowed on Christmas day here to first time in 50yrs.

[cajungal]

Here is my old thread, since somebody brought it up.

[BLHutch]

As I recall, we had a close call with Jerry in 1989, so we didn't escape that season completely unscathed. Also, I'd be interested in knowing if there was any snow in 1886 (that was the year Texas/Galveston got hit by multiple hurricanes...the last one was BAD) or in 1915. I'll see what I can turn up.

Brady

[BigO]

It is a common conception here that extremely active hurricane seasons lead to much harsher winters.

Now, I haven't done the math, but last year's hurricane season and last winter's Christmas snowfall would support that notion. We will yet see if this winter lives up to the wives' tale.

If I had a gun to my head and a demand for an explanation, I'd say that an extreme in one direction has to be balanced by an extreme in the other.

I'm not a scientist or even a philosopher, but on a gut level, that stands to reason in my book.

[johngaltfla]

As a HOBBYIST ONLY (my disclaimer) I can only see one thing; that we are in uncharted turf. You can not account for just 10, 20, 50 or 100 year cycles. Mother Nature has the abilty to create and implement 1000, 2000, 3000, etc. year cycles.

I maintain we are in uncharted turf because we only have about 150 years of data to refer to.

The weather experts opinions on this subject are VERY welcomed. I do realize we may not know until next year when all the data is received. But I do view this hurricane season as a crapshoot right now, other than the 36 hour forecasts....

[otowntiger]

I'm afraid there is really no correlation between cold winters and busy hurricane seasons. Scientifically a better predictor of more storms could possibly be warmer weather. Of course I've done no research and cannot prove it either way.

BTW did you enjoy that book? I got it as a present not too long ago and haven't taken the time to sit down and read it.

[GalvestonDuck]

I was born during a snowstorm on the first day of spring. Does that help?

[Derek Ortt]

and 2 canes hit the upper TX coast in 1989

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

Actually, I think December 1989 was colder than 1983 anyway.

I got my info from the link above from NWS-Houston.One sentence says...

"The coldest Christmas in city history occurred in 1983 when the low temperature plummeted to 11 degrees".

Overall I believe the 1989 was colder, but indeed the coldest Christmas was in 1983. It plunged to 7º at my house and we had such fun in the attic thawing pipes!!!!NOT!!!!!

I was in the RGV during both of those Arctic outbreaks and down there the 1989 event was colder. But the 1983 event was much longer and in fact we had minor outbreaks the happend through out January and February.


On the subject being talked about I don't see any relationship on an extreme cold leading to a Hurricane the following summer. The Christmas snow here in the Corpus area was an historic event, but our winter was pretty much a dud after that. We had a few mornings close or slightly below freezing, but we had no Arctic outbreaks that put us in the cold over a series of days. We hardly even had the drizzle and yuck that symblozies most south Texas winters.

One thing that I think does happen is our dry/hot spells are usually broken by a tropical system of some sort or a cold/wet winter. We were averaging way below normal in the rain fall dept unitl today and the temps were above normal for this time of year and that was going on since May. Frankly I would have no been surprised if we diddn't get hit this year and we still might in August or September if Emily stays course towards Mexico.