Volume 12 Number 2                                                                                                         FEBRUARY 1999

February 1999 turned out to be another warm month for the residents of Texas. All of the first-order stations in Texas reported above normal mean temperatures for the month. Departures from normal ranged from +5.5°F in El Paso to +9.5°F in Austin. On the other hand, precipitation was way below normal for almost all of Texas during February. Brownsville was the only first-order station to report above normal precipitation with a monthly total of 1.50". Abilene received no precipitation in February equaling the all time record for the driest February. College Station broke the 25-year-old record for the driest February ever with a precipitation total of only 0.14".

The month began with above normal temperatures and little in the way of storm systems for the Lone Star State. The night of February 6^th did however bring a low-pressure system that triggered strong thunderstorms in northeastern Texas. Denton, Dallas, Tarrant, and Collin Counties had numerous reports of three-quarter inch size hail and damaging winds from the eastward moving thunderstorms. As soon as the low-pressure systems trailing cold front passed through Texas the skies once again cleared and dried out.

Temperatures were quite warm from the 6^th to the 11^th throughout Texas causing many temperature records to be broken around the state. For instance, five new highest minimum temperature records were set for Austin (67°F), San Antonio (67°F), College Station (67°F), Houston (69°F) and Midland (49°F) on the 6^th alone. On the 8^th, San Angelo set a new record high temperature with the mercury reaching as high as 87°F. Houston also broke the high temperature record for the 11^th with 82°F.

The second half of February continued to bring little in the form of precipitation to the cities and towns of Texas. Temperatures remained above normal with storm systems opting for the northern route leaving Texas to deal with persistent dry weather. Concern began to deepen for the extremely dry topsoil in southern Texas where corn, cotton, and sorghum planting was underway. With February ending, San Antonio has only reported 0.09" of rain for the year to date. San Antonio and Midland also experienced their warmest February since 1976.

                                                           Prepared by:    John F. Griffiths (State Climatologist)
                                                                                  Chris J. Gordon (Graduate Assistant)
 

                                                                FEBRUARY 1999
 

	Avg		Avg				Abs	Abs	No. of	Total	% of	Gr'st
	Max		Min		Mean		Max	Min	Days	Pcpn	Avg	24 hr
Station	Temp	Dep	Temp	Dep	Temp	Dep	Temp	Temp	Precip.	(In)	Pcpn	Pcpn	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene*	70.0	10.3	41.0	5.9	56.0	8.6	83	24	0	0.00	0%	0.00	269	13
Amarillo	63.1	10.3	31.2	5.7	47.1	7.9	80	17	0	0.00	0%	0.00	476	0
Austin	73.3	9.9	51.2	9.1	62.3	9.5	87	33	2	0.03	1%	0.02	126	56
Brownsville	79.0	6.8	58.9	6.4	69.0	6.6	84	41	3	1.50	142%	1.42	43	159
College Station	73.1	10.2	49.7	7.8	61.4	9.0	83	33	5	0.14	5%	0.14	142	53
Corpus Christi	77.1	8.1	55.4	7.4	66.3	7.8	86	31	4	0.33	17%	0.24	69	111
Dallas/Ft. Worth	67.3	8.4	43.6	6.7	55.5	7.6	77	33	2	0.48	22%	0.44	266	5
Del Rio	77.1	10.0	48.7	5.8	62.9	7.8	89	28	2	0.02	2%	0.01	106	55
El Paso	68.7	6.5	38.4	4.5	53.6	5.5	77	20	0	0.00	0%	0.00	315	0
Houston	73.5	8.2	49.4	6.8	61.5	7.6	83	31	4	0.80	27%	0.29	153	60
Lubbock*	68.0	10.4	33.0	4.4	50.0	6.9	83	18	0	0.00	0%	0.00	405	0
Midland	70.2	8.6	38.2	5.6	54.2	7.1	82	18	0	0.00	0%	0.00	299	5
Port Arthur*	71.0	6.7	52.0	7.6	61.0	6.5	80	35	10	1.13	33%	0.75	147	53
San Angelo*	72.0	10.0	39.0	4.3	56.0	7.6	87	22	1	0.10	9%	0.10	262	8
San Antonio	74.2	8.5	49.4	8.1	61.8	8.3	89	29	1	0.01	1%	0.01	147	55
Victoria*	73.0	6.2	52.0	6.6	63.0	6.9	81	32	7	1.94	97%	1.73	115	58
Waco	70.2	9.4	45.1	7.1	57.6	8.2	84	32	2	0.07	3%	0.06	227	30
Wichita Falls	67.1	9.9	38.4	6.3	52.8	8.1	81	28	1	0.19	13%	0.19	343	6
Shreveport, LA	68.9	8.3	45.0	7.0	57.0	7.7	81	30	3	0.42	12%	0.30	250	29

   *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.

			Rec	Rec		Gr'st	Gr'st	Mean # of Days
	Avg	Avg	High	Low	Avg	Mon	24 hr			Pcpn
	Max	Min	Max	Min	Pcpn	Pcpn	Pcpn	Max. T.	Min. T	>or=
Station	Temp	Temp	Temp	Temp	(In)	(In)	(In)	>90°F	<32°F	0.01"	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene	69	43	97	7	1.36	5.16	2.23	1	4	5	299	23
Amarillo	62	33	94	-3	0.96	3.99	2.27	2	15	5	555	0
Austin	72	51	98	18	1.87	6.03	2.69	1	1	7	175	66
Brownsville	78	59	106	32	0.53	4.27	2.59	2	<1	4	41	159
College Station	71	50	96	17	2.58	8.03	4.02	<1	2	7	197	51
Corpus Christi	76	55	102	24	0.94	4.80	2.67	1	<1	5	100	119
Dallas/Ft. Worth	68	46	96	15	2.77	6.39	4.39	<1	3	7	286	29
Del Rio	76	51	101	21	0.69	2.60	1.73	2	1	5	139	87
El Paso	70	40	89	14	0.29	2.26	1.72	0	5	2	316	10
Galveston	67	57	85	26	2.23	9.49	8.10	0	<1	8	145	43
Houston	71	50	91	22	2.92	8.52	7.47	<1	2	9	187	50
Lubbock	66	36	95	2	0.89	3.23	1.80	<1	11	4	437	10
Midland	71	40	95	9	0.58	2.86	2.20	<1	6	3	309	21
Port Arthur	72	51	87	23	3.24	9.35	6.04	0	1	8	155	43
San Angelo	73	44	97	8	0.91	5.00	4.65	1	4	4	247	33
San Antonio	74	50	100	19	1.52	4.19	2.36	1	2	7	167	64
Victoria	74	53	97	21	1.55	5.51	2.65	<1	1	7	128	76
Waco	70	47	100	15	2.33	6.84	3.07	<1	2	7	247	36
Wichita Falls	66	41	100	8	2.21	5.24	4.32	1	6	6	377	20
Shreveport, LA	68	46	92	20	3.77	7.23	3.63	<1	3	9	282	34
Sunrise/Sunset			SUNRISE			SUNSET			DAYTIME LENGTH
	1st		7:04 am CDT			6:35 pm CDT			11 hr 31 min
	31st		6:27 am CDT			6:55 pm CDT			12 hr 28 min
Moon Phases		NEW		FIRST QTR.			FULL			LAST QTR.
		17th		24th			2nd			10th
		12:49 pm CDT		4:19 am CDT			1:00 am CDT			2:42 am CDT

The month began with some Texan farmers finding it necessary to irrigate their fields even before they plant their crops. Joe Pena, the Extension economist in Uvalde, said, "although rainfall was abundant last fall, farmers stopped smiling in late November when sky dried up." Due to high winds and record high temperatures in November and December the top 5 to 10 inches of topsoil is bone dry. Even though there was substantial subsoil moisture, Pena went on to say that we are in desperate need of rain because of the extremely dry topsoil. Dryland farmers could not begin planting at all with the low surface soil moisture, while the irrigated farmers were beginning to plant.

On the other hand, farmers in North Texas were dealing with growing conditions that were much better than normal. Wheat and small grains were growing very well. The slightly above normal temperatures in the Panhandle helped bring moisture to the soil by melting the already present snow and ice that had accumulated on the fields during the previous weeks. Moisture conditions were also short to very short for the farmers in the Rolling Plains.

During the middle of the month, cotton, corn and sorghum were being planted in the Coastal Bend and the Rio Grande Valley. Producers were taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather. Less corn than normal was expected to be planted in East and Central Texas because of the considerably large amount of water corn requires during its growing season. Extremely dry conditions continued to cause problems in the Rolling Plains and the South Plains. Livestock producers in West Texas were also feeling the rainfall shortage with the winter forage barely holding up and the soil moisture being short. The harvesting of spinach, cabbage, and greens continued in Southwest Texas.

By the end of the month most of the state was dealing with extremely dry conditions. Army cutworms were also a problem for the alfalfa and wheat crops in the Texas Panhandle and the Rolling Plains. Some areas were also reporting an above average incidence of roadside fires for this time of year. Finally, Joe Pena said, "the moisture situation is starting to get critical."
 

            Chris J. Gordon

                                                       Material obtained from:
                                                                                           TAMU Extension Crop, Livestock and Weather reports
 
 
 
 

Monthly Weather Outlook for March 1999

The 30-day outlook for the month of March indicates that temperatures will most likely be around normal for the entire state of Texas. The probabilities for March precipitation are normal for extreme South Texas and East Texas. The areas in the Panhandle, West Texas and North Central Texas can expect precipitation to be slightly below normal for March with the probabilities for below normal precipitation being around 40%.

Past Weather Events in March

March 23, 1909: A tornado hit Slidell, Wise County killing 11, injuring 10 and causing $30,000 in damages.

March 13, 1953: A tornado traveled from Jud and O'Brien in Haskell County to Knox City in Knox County killing 17, injuring 25 and causing $600,000 in damages.

March 30, 1976: A squall line of severe thunderstorms moved through Central Texas, causing widespread damage between Austin and Bryan/College Station. Winds of 60-70 mph, funnel clouds and tornadoes damaged over 100 mobile homes, 50 of which were in the Lake Somerville area. In Polk County hail covered the ground two inches deep just prior to the passing of a tornado that destroyed 14 mobile homes. Total damage from the storms was estimated to be about $300,000.