C/S TX Weather: Seasonal with some rains

[srainhoutx]

Good luck folks. I would hate to see the level of Lake Travis after this drought.

[Portastorm]

Good luck folks. I would hate to see the level of Lake Travis after this drought.

I think I saw a graphic on our news last night that indicated that Lake Travis was at its third or fourth lowest EVER level right now.

[Shoshana]

More from Bob Rose's blog at the LCRA

July 30 - It's official: July is the hottest month on record. And with very little rain and some of the highest temperatures ever recorded, even the native vegetation is showing signs of stress. Trees that survived the Drought of Record in the '50s are either suffering or dying due to the drought.

I can't remember if I posted this, but last week 2 hackberry trees fell over 2 fences over. I don't know what happened - it wasn't windy, but I suspect the drought did them in. One was dead, but the other I think fell because the ground shifted as it dried. They fell at different times so one didn't pull the other over. I don't know the people whose yard they were in but the trees were there long before the neighborhood. They were part of a line of hackberries that used to shade our yard on the west side - several fell in the big storm in 2003 and more were chopped down after that.

And our neighbors are losing their Bradford Pear trees. So far 3 have died and more are lookin sick along our street. Our trees are elms of some sort and altho straggly, are ok. They're shaded in the late afternoon.

102 today. I recounted and today is day 43 of 100+ days.

From the LCRA website

Lake Travis low elevations
Rank
Date
Height (msl)
1 Aug. 14, 1951 614.18
2 Nov. 1963 615.02
3 Oct. 1984 636.58
4 Oct. 2000 640.24
5 Dec. 2006 643.55

As of today, Lake Travis is at 636.70 feet. It very well easily go down to the 3rd lowest level ever, but with El Nino's influence in the next few months, I don't see how it will go anywhere near the #1 or 2 level. The Hill Country has actually had more rain than Central and South Texas so the lake has had some runoff. Not anywhere close to normal though.

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

I saw a news story about Lake Travis on TV the other night. It noted the police were able to recover several stolen or missing (due to insurance fraud) vehicles and motorcycles.

We haven't gone on water restrictions yet here in Corpus. Lake CC is at 39%, but Choke Canyon up the road from Lake CC is at 60% and it has benefited from the past two wet summers in a big way. But they think if we don't get any rain of any significance by October, we'll go on mandatory restrictions then. It kind or reminds me of the drought we had in 1997-98 when we finally hit the restrictions with the once a week lawn watering, about a month later it rained like crazy and we broke a single day rainfall record that was not related with a tropical strom or hurricane.

[Shoshana]

44

We're on permanent water restriction from I think May to October. We can water 2x week. Nov-March they figure out how much to charge for wastewater by seeing how much water we use during those months, so everyone conserves water then to save on money later!

[Portastorm]

Here is a blurb from Bob Rose's weather blog on the LCRA website. Bob is a longtime meteorologist in our area and is highly respected locally. Kind of puts July in perspective:

**********
What a Record Hot July!
The weather in July wasn’t just hot. For many areas, temperatures averaged the hottest ever recorded. Here’s a quick list of some of the highlights:

Austin-Camp Mabry: Average monthly temperature was 89.5 degrees. Hottest July and hottest month ever recorded dating back to 1854. Average high temperature was 102.0 degrees, breaking previous all-time average maximum of 101.7 degrees set in 1923. Average low temperature of 76.9 degrees broke a record for warmest minimum temperature for July. Previous record was 76.7 degrees set in 1998. 26 100-degrees days.

San Antonio: Average monthly temperature was 88.7 degrees. This was the hottest July and the hottest month ever recorded dating back to 1885. Average high temperature was 100.6 degrees, breaking the previous all-time average maximum of 99.9 degrees in 1980. Average low temperature of 76.9 degrees is the second warmest minimum temperature for July. Record is 77.2 degrees set in July 1979. 22 100-degree days.

Victoria: Average monthly temperature was 88.1 degrees. Hottest July and hottest month ever recorded. Previous hottest month was 87.2 degrees in 1998. Average high temperature was 99.6 degrees, tying with 1914 for the hottest average maximum on record. Rainfall January through July has been 6.84 inches—the driest January through July on record. Previous record was 7.73 inches in 1917. 17 100-degree days.

College Station: Average monthly temperature was 89.1 degrees. Hottest July on record. Hottest month ever recorded.

Houston-Hobby: Average monthly temperature was 86.7 degrees. Hottest July on record. Hottest month ever recorded.

Houston-Bush: Average monthly temperature was 87.4 degrees. Second hottest July on record.

[somethingfunny]

Record Lows Mon Aug 3 2009

Valdez AK 43F
Austin Bergstrom TX 65F tied 1973

-justin-

Did y'all get out there and enjoy that??

[Shoshana]

45 days 100+ @ Mabry

Yeah, I saw that record low notice this morning. I doubt it was that cool at our house cause Bergstrom's not only out in the country, it's close to the Colorado river. But... it IS nice that it cooled off. We didn't notice because we had the window ac cranked...

I will be so glad to get central ac again~ the noise of the window ac is not soothing. Better than being hot tho!!!!

[Portastorm]

Yeah, let's be clear that Bergstrom will record some low temps that in no way reflect what is actually registering in most of the metro Austin area. The airport is in a river valley, literally. The only 65-degree temp in AUS metro Monday morning was if you were in your car and had the A/C fully cranked!

45 days of 100 degrees or more since June 1st ... geez.

Shoshana, hope your A/C gets fixed soon!

[Portastorm]

The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is reporting that Lake Travis -- at 636.49 feet -- is now at its third lowest level of all time.

[Shoshana]

Hopefully Lake Travis won't break anymore low levels - the next ones are really low.

103 @ Mabry so far. 46 days.

[Portastorm]

I'm thinking today is going to be a scorcher (as if yesterday wasn't!) ... at noon we're at 97 degrees with a 61-degree dew point. Yesterday at this time, we had 94 degrees with a 65-degree dew point.

Our high yesterday was 104. At this rate we could hit 106-107. Record is 105 @ Mabry and 104 @ the airport. I bet we beat that today.

[Shoshana]

100 @ Mabry 47th 100 degree day.

I agree, it's going to be close to or above record.

[A1A]

I'm thinking today is going to be a scorcher (as if yesterday wasn't!) ... at noon we're at 97 degrees with a 61-degree dew point. Yesterday at this time, we had 94 degrees with a 65-degree dew point.

Our high yesterday was 104. At this rate we could hit 106-107. Record is 105 @ Mabry and 104 @ the airport. I bet we beat that today.

How do they compare old airport highs with new ones since the new airport is at a different location?

[Shoshana]

From the way they phrase things, it sounds like Mabry and Bergstrom both have been recording temps all along.

Currently
105F @ Mabry (ties record)
103F @ Bergstrom.

[Shoshana]

From the NWS -

So far this year... Thursday August 6th was the 47th 100 degree
day at Austin Mabry... the 39th 100 degree day at Austin
Bergstrom... the 44th 100 degree day at del Rio... the 41st
100 degree day at San Antonio International Airport... and
the 51st 100 degree day at San Antonio Stinson field.

OK, so now I know how many 100+ days there were at Bergstrom.. I'd lost count. Record out there is 50

Pretty sure we'll be over 100 at both places but hopefully nowhere near Mabry's 108 record... or 106 Bergstrom's.

[Shoshana]

48/40 days over 100 Mabry/Bergstrom

[Shoshana]

49/41

Mabry hit 103, Bergstrom 100.

Forecast for tomorrow, 100+, Monday 99, after that 100+ till?

[Portastorm]

50/42 ... hit at least 101 at Mabry and 100 at Bergstrom. HOWEVER ... nice respite ... we've had some showers and thunderstorms, albeit brief, move through the Austin metro between 5-6 p.m.

[Shoshana]

It got hotter I guess after the drizzle, when I checked it looked like Mabry hit 103, Bergstrom 102.

Well, we're now tied for 3rd with last year for most 100+ days at Mabry.