PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
532 AM CDT SUN APR 1 2012
...MARCH WAS CONSIDERABLY WARMER THAN NORMAL...
...MARCH RAINFALL REMAINED WELL ABOVE NORMAL...
AS MONTHS GO...MARCH WAS ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS. UNSEASONABLY WARM
TEMPERATURES COUPLED WITH ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL PRODUCED A SLEW OF
RECORDS FOR SEVERAL CLIMATE SITES. COLLEGE STATION ESTABLISHED TWO
NEW CALENDAR RAINFALL RECORDS AND ALSO ESTABLISHED A NEW MONTHLY
RAINFALL RECORD WITH 8.66 INCHES OF RAIN. SINCE JANUARY 1ST...
COLLEGE STATION HAS RECEIVED 20.74 INCHES OF RAIN AND THIS IS THE
SECOND WETTEST START TO A YEAR IN RECORDED HISTORY. THE WETTEST
START TO ANY YEAR WAS 1991 WITH 20.79 INCHES OF RAIN. THE 2012
RAINFALL TOTAL (20.74 INCHES) HAS ALREADY SURPASSED THE RAINFALL
TOTAL FOR 2011 (19.01 INCHES). THE RAINFALL TOTALS FOR FEBRUARY-
MARCH WAS 17.95 INCHES AND THIS IS THE WETTEST FEBRUARY-MARCH
COMBINATION IN CITY HISTORY...EASILY SURPASSING THE 13.44 INCHES
OF RAIN THAT FELL IN 1992. IT WASN`T JUST WET IN COLLEGE
STATION...IT WAS QUITE WARM TOO. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE
WAS 67.1 DEGREES WHICH TIES FOR THE SIXTH WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD.
IT WAS QUITE WARM ELSEWHERE ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS. ALL FOUR FIRST
ORDER CLIMATE SITES HAD UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES. THE MONTHLY
AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WERE BETWEEN SIX AND SEVEN DEGREES WARMER THAN
NORMAL.
THE CITY OF HOUSTON RECORDED AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 69.0
DEGREES WHICH IS THE FOURTH WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD. GALVESTON
RECORDED AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 70.1 DEGREES WHICH IS THE
SECOND WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD. GALVESTON RECORDED TEN WARMEST
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS...TWO HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS AND ALSO
TIED ITS WARMEST OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED IN MARCH
(TWICE) WITH A MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF ONLY 73 DEGREES. HOUSTON HOBBY
AIRPORT TRUMPED ALL THE OTHER CLIMATE SITES BY ENDURING ITS WARMEST
MARCH ON RECORD. BELOW ARE THE FIVE WARMEST AVERAGE MONTHLY MARCH
TEMPERATURES FOR THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES:
CITY OF HOUSTON CITY OF COLLEGE
HOUSTON HOBBY GALVESTON STATION
72.1 1907 69.5 2012 70.4 1907 68.5 1921
69.4 1953 68.5 1953 70.1 2012 67.7 1935
69.2 1908 68.0 1974 68.2 1882 67.7 1938
69.0 2012 67.8 2011 68.0 2000 67.5 1945
68.8 1945 67.8 2000 68.0 1921 67.2 1916
2012 HAS BEEN VERY WARM AND THE YEAR TO DATE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE HAS
BEEN ONE OF THE WARMEST ON RECORD. THE CITY OF HOUSTON HAS RECORDED
ITS SECOND WARMEST START TO THE YEAR WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF
62.8 DEGREES. BELOW IS A TABLE WITH THE YEAR TO DATE AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE:
YEAR TO DATE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
CITY OF HOUSTON CITY OF COLLEGE
HOUSTON HOBBY GALVESTON STATION
64.1 1911 63.3 2012 64.4 1907 62.3 1911
62.6 2012 63.2 2000 63.9 2012 60.3 2012
62.1 1921 62.1 1999 63.6 1882 59.8 1916
61.9 1950 61.6 1950 63.3 1890 59.6 2000
61.5 2000 61.4 2006 63.2 2000 59.2 1935
IT WAS RATHER WET ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS WITH MOST AREAS RECEIVING
ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL. THE CITY OF HOUSTON RECORDED 7.14 INCHES OF
RAIN IN MARCH AND THIS IS THE EIGHTH WETTEST MARCH IN CITY HISTORY.
THIS IS ALSO THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH WITH ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL
FOR THE CITY OF HOUSTON. AFTER LAST YEARS DEVASTATING DROUGHT...THE
RECENT RAIN HAS REPLENISHED AREA RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS.
BELOW IS A TABLE WHICH INDICATES THE FIVE WETTEST STARTS TO A YEAR
FOR EACH OF THE FIRST ORDER CLIMATE SITES:
CITY OF HOUSTON CITY OF COLLEGE
HOUSTON HOBBY GALVESTON STATION
20.17 1896 19.33 1997 19.73 1997 20.79 1991
19.97 1992 19.30 1944 19.50 1903 20.74 2012
18.93 1891 18.95 1992 18.97 1992 19.19 1932
18.89 1922 18.00 1979 18.66 1934 18.69 1934
18.19 2012 17.19 2012# 18.49 1944 18.36 1992
15.25 2012 12TH
# TIES 17.19 IN 1991
AS NOTED EARLIER IN THIS STATEMENT...RESERVOIR LEVELS HAVE MADE A
REMARKABLE TURN AROUND. LEVELS ARE EITHER NEAR OR ABOVE THE NORMAL
POOL ELEVATION. BELOW ARE THE SIX RESERVOIR LEVELS WITH THEIR
PERCENT OF CAPACITY AND POOL ELEVATIONS (FEET ABOVE MSL AND
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL POOL ELEVATION IN FEET):
SITE CAPACITY POOL LEVEL DEPARTURE
LAKE CONROE 89.7 198.74 -2.26
LAKE HOUSTON 100.0 42.26 +0.53
HOUSTON CNTY LAKE 99.9 259.99 -0.01
LAKE LIVINGSTON 100.0 132.46 +1.46
LAKE SOMERVILLE 100.0 242.82 +4.82
LAKE TEXANA 100.0 44.07 +0.07
HERE IS THE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL DATA FOR FIRST AND
SECOND ORDER CLIMATE STATIONS:
SITE AVG AVG AVG DEP RAINFALL DEP
HIGH LOW MONTH
IAH 78.4 59.7 69.0 +6.3 7.14 +3.73
HOU 77.8 61.2 69.5 +6.2 4.98 +1.78
CLL 76.2 58.1 67.1 +5.7 8.66 +5.49
GLS 75.2 65.1 70.1 +6.7 4.96 +1.80
CXO 77.0 55.5 66.3 +6.0 5.36 +2.17
UTS 76.6 57.8 67.2 +6.6 6.69 +3.28
PSX 75.6 61.6 68.6 +5.7 4.50 +1.50
LBX 76.7 59.8 68.3 +6.3 4.76 +1.29
SGR 77.5 59.0 68.2 +6.4 4.43 +1.18
LVJ 77.5 60.7 69.1 +6.6 5.56 +2.53
DWH 76.6 58.3 67.5 +6.7 3.88 +0.29
HGX 77.0 59.6 68.3 +6.5 5.32 +2.08
BELOW ARE SOME MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTALS FROM OUR NETWORK OF CO-OP
OBSERVERS:
LOCATION MARCH RAIN
ANAHUAC 4.69
BAY CITY 4.85
BAYTOWN 5.11
BELLVILLE 4.35
BRENHAM 6.35
CALDWELL 5.05
COLUMBUS 5.47
CLEVELAND 3.90
CROCKETT 8.91
DANEVANG 5.61
EDNA 4.68
EL CAMPO 4.21
FREEPORT 5.12
HOU WESTBURY 5.54
KATY 6.20
LIBERTY 5.22
LIVINGSTON 5.07
MADISONVILLE 9.01
MATAGORDA 5.10
NEW CANEY 3.45
RICHMOND 5.01
SOMERVILLE 5.70
WASH ST PARK 5.75
WEST COLUMBIA 4.69
WHARTON NA
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